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ART    CRAFTS-  FOR    AMATEURS. 


Post  8vo,  cloth,  price,  $2.00. 
THE   TRAINING    OF   A   CRAFTSMAN. 

By  Fred  Mii^i^ER.  With  161  Illustrations  by  various  work- 
ers in  the  Art  Crafts.  Contents  :  The  Craftsman  and 
Nature — Design  and  Craftsmanship — Metal  Work — ^Re- 
pousse and  Fine  Metal  Work — Wrought  Iron — Jeweliy — 
Enameling — Potters  and  Painters — Glass  Painters— Wood- 
Carvers— Bookbinders — Women  Workers  in  the  Art  Crafts — 
Surface  Decoration — Wall  Papers  and  Textiles— The  Crafts- 
man of  To  Day. 

The  author  has  drawn  special  designs  for  binding,  title- 
page  and  end-papers. 


The  Nation. — "The  book  is  one  which  every  person  interested  in 
decorative  art  should  read  with  care.  It  is  full  of  suggestion,  and,  if 
one  finds  that  he  can  agree  with  its  statements,  full  of  encouragement." 

The  New  York  Times. — "A  very  dainty  little  hand-book  that  will 
do  much  to  instruct  the  student  and  be  helpful  to  the  patron  into  whose 
hands  it  may  chance  to  fall." 

The  Sunday  School  Times. — "  His  book  is  beautifully  illustrated — 
the  text  is  not  only  informing  to  the  connoisseur,  but  interesting  reading 
to  any  one  who  pretends  to  a  fair  degree  of  general  culture." 


TRUSLOVE,  HANSON  &  COMBA,  Ltd., 

67  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK. 


/^ATEURg 

BY 

FKED  MILLER 

AUTHOR    or 
TheTRAININGoFACRAFT5/1AN,ETe 

WITH 

NUMEROUS  ILLUSTRATIONS 


TRUSLOVE,    HANSON    &    COMBA    Ld. 
NEW  YORK    &.   LONDON 


<L.^^==^ 


The  copyrights  of  the  illustrations  in  this  work  are  strictly 
reser%<ed  by  their  respective  owners. 


•  t  «  '•" 


/-       ::/         c-i-'C.C  <! 


^6    ^. 


TO    THE    READER. 

T^HE  scope  of  this  book  is  indicated  by  the  title,  but 
though  addressed  to  amateurs  it  might  serve  as  a 
text-book  to  those  who  intend  to  make  Art-work  their 
calling,  for  often  the  only  line  of  demarcation  between 
amateur  and  professional  is  that  the  latter  makes  a  business 
of  what  the  former  does  as  a  recreation.  The  author's  aim 
has  been  to  take  the  leading  art-crafts,  and  to  approach 
them,  from  two  points  of  view — that  of  the  practice  of 
them  and  that  of  scheming  for  and  designing  for  them. 
Many  useful  hints  and  suggestions  of  a  practical  nature 
can  be  imparted  by  a  practical  worker  in  writing  to  those 
who  have  made  a  start,  or  even  to  those  who  are  about 
to  begin  ;  while  in  the  matter  of  design  this  can  be 
dealt  with  in  a  yel  more  emphatic  way  by  the  help  of 
illustrations,  and  the  publishers  have  allowed  the  author 
to  be  prodigal  in  this  matter,  there  being  no  less  than  178 
in  the  present  work,  gathered  from  many  sources,  and 
giving  examples  of  craftsmen  of  very  divergent  tendencies  ; 
for  it  was  no  part  of  the  author's  plan  to  select  examples 
in  which  certain  well-defined  ideas  found  expression,  as 
though  there  were  one  way  only  :  in  the  craftsman's  world 
are  many  mansions. 


7312T5 


VIU  PREFACE. 

Two  visits  to  the  Paris  Exhibition,  which  was,  indeed, 
a  microcosm  of  human  endeavour,  enabled  the  author  to 
widen  his  outlook,  and  by  enlarging  the  scope  of  his 
inquiries  make  the  following  pages,  therefore,  of  more 
interest  to  the  reader,  as  the  newer  tendencies  stirring 
craftsmen  abroad  have  been  touched  upon. 

This  work  is  published  three  years  after  the  author's 
"  Training  of  a  Craftsman,"  which  might  be  considered  a 
sequel  to  the  present  book,  and  to  which  he  refers  those 
readers  who,  having  followed  the  writer  with  some  pleasure 
and  profit  to  themselves,  would  like  to  carry  their  studies 
further. 


CONTENTS. 


■♦■ 


CHAP,  PAGE 

I.    A  Method  of  Study i 

II.    Wood  Carving 15 

III.  Beaten  Metal  Work  or  Repousse      .        .  44 

IV.  Clay    Modelling    and    Metal   Work    in 

Relief    .  '     . 71 

V.    Enamelling  and  Enamelled  Jewellery    .  82 

VI.    Bookbinding  and  Leather  Work       .        .  96 

VII.    Inlaying  and  Stained  Wood  Decoration.  117 

VIII,    Gesso,  or  Painting  in  Relief      .        .        .  135 

IX.    Fret  Work 156 

X..  Needlework:    Planning  and  Designing  .  175 
XI.    Animal  Forms  in  Decoration      .        .        .198 

XII.  Stencilling 212 

XIII.  Poker  Work  on  Wood  and  Leather         .  224 

XIV.  Decorative     Painting     for     Rooms    and 

Furniture 2^^ 


LIST    OF    ARTISTS 

WHOSE  DESIGNS    ARE    REPRODUCED    IN    THIS   BOOK. 
The  Nuiribers  given  are  those  under  each  Illustration. 

PAGE 

Allport,  Miss 148 

ASHBEE,  C.  R. -45 

Bassett,  Miss 4 

Bennett,  E.  F.  T.         .        .        .        .        .        .        .145 

BiRKENRUTH,    MiSS  J .68 

Brateau,  Jules 42,  46 

Brewer,  H.  C 166,  167,  172,  175,  177 

Carpenter,  Hon.  Mrs 79 

Chiswick  School  of  Arts  and  Crafts  .         38,  65,  120 
Crane,  Walter    ...  ....     150 

Davis,  Louis 170 

Fisher,  Alex 58  to  64 

FoxLEY,  Miss  C 168 

Gimingham,  Miss         .        .        .        .        2 

Grimavood,  W.  H 24 

Haite,  G.  C,  R.B.A 52,  53,  54 

Hallin,  F.  a. 66 

Hallward,  Reginald 93 

Harris  &  Sons,  J •.        .122 

HoKousAi        ....'...                .142 
Hulbe,  George 69 

Janko 143 

Jenkins,  F.  Lynn         .        .        .        .        .        .      92,  103 


Xll  LIST  OF  ARTISTS. 

PAGE 

Kearton,  Cherry 144 

Kerby  Lonsdale  Class 67 

Leighton  Buzzard  Class 4 

LuTiGER,  Frank 56 

Majorelle  Freres 80 

Marks,  Gilbert .        .41 

Martin,  Miss  B -57 

Miller,  F.,  7  to  16,   19,  20,  21,  26,27,30,31,331037,39, 

40,  43,  44,  48,  70  to  78,  81  to  91,  94  to  loi,  104  to  118, 

123  to  135,  137  to  140,  151  to  164,  169. 

Moira,  Gerald 92,  103 

Moore,  Miss  Esther  .        .        .        ...        -51 

Moss,  J •        •        •        •      55 

Phillips,  Joseph  .        .        .        ...        .        .        6 

Potter  &  Sons,  T 47 

Rope,  Miss  E.  M 49 

RosKAM,  M .50 

SCHUFELDT,   Dr.   R.    W I46 

Southwold  School  of  Industrial  Art         .        .        5 
So-Shiseki .147 

Theaker,  H.  G .        .171 

Thoma,  Hans 173,  174 

Traquair,  Mrs 141,  176,  178 

Ubbelohde,  Herr .     136 

voysey,  c.  f.  a 149 

Waterhouse,  Mrs. 3 

Webb,  Stephen 102 

Yattender  Class  ."      .        .'      .        .        .3,28,29 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 


•  • .  •  •  •  • 

•  >»■••    •  • 


CHAPTER    I.      . 


THE    AMATEUR    AS    DESIGNER: 
A   METHOD   OF   STUDY. 

^Qy^^^j^  WIDESPREAD  and  increasing  interest  is  now 
(^^jP^My  taken  in  the  art  crafts,  and  the  more  than 
creditable  work  shown  every  year  at  the 
^  j^j  Albert    Hall,    under    the    auspices   of    the 

^  Home   Arts   Association,  each  exhibition  being 

an  advance  upon  the  previous  one,  is  evidence 
that  this  interest  is  not  a  mere  abstraction  of  the 
nature  of  counsels  of  perfection,  but  a  vital  impulse 
that  finds  very  capable  expression.  I  have  placed  here  some 
specimens  of  the  work  executed  under  the  direction  of  the 
Home  Arts  Association,  or  at  all  events  the  outcome  of  this 
movement  to  develop  the  hand-cunning  of  villagers,  and  I 
think  it  will  be  acknowledged  that  astonishing  progress  has 
been  made  since  the  Association  began  its  work.  The 
painting  of  flowers  and  sketching  from  nature,  that  were  the 
accomplishments  of  the  more  educated  among  us  half-a- 
century  ago,  have  given  place  to  work  in  which  craftsmanship 

B 


2  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

is  brought  into  play,  or  where  the  hand  is  exercised  to  a 
fuller  extent  than  the  head  and  heart.  Lest  I  should  be 
misunderstood  in  this  remark,  let  us  contrast  wood  carving, 
a  typical  craft  as  well  as  a  favourite  one  with  amateurs,  with 
water-colour  sketching.  The  time  occupied  in  scheming 
out  a  design  is  small  in  comparison  with  the  time  taken  in 
carving  it :  the  finger-skill  or  hand-cunning  is  of  more 
importance  than  the  purely  mental  qualities  called  into  play 
in  de'^ignirtg  the  work  to  be  wrought,  and  it  is  for  this 
reason  that  tKere  are  many  more  people  to  be  found  who 
^'n'oalrj/e  a  credi^t;,able  panel  than  make  a  sketch  of  equal 
excellence  in  its  particular  way  ;  the  sketch  demanding 
much  delicacy  of  perception  and  finesse,  which  come  partly 
from  temperament  and  partly  to  very  strenuous  endeavour 
and  long  practice. 

It  is  therefore  a  wise  step  to  give  up  trying  to  paint  very 
poor  pictures  and  to  engage  in  one  of  the  many  crafts 
within  the  reach  and  compass  of  amateurs.  In  these  pages 
I  address  myself  mainly  to  those  who  have  started  work, 
but  require  a  helping  hand,  and  that  mainly  as  to  what  to 
do  and  what  is  best  worth  doing,  though  I  venture  to  hope 
I  may  be  of  some  helpfulness  to  the  mere  beginner. 

So  many  amateurs  soon  come  to  pause  for  the  want  of  a 
little  directing  as  to  what  sort  of  designs  they  shall  carry  out. 
Undoubtedly  what  every  amateur  should  strive  for  is  to 
make  his  own  designs,  for  truly  a  design  should  grow  under 
the  fingers,  evolve  as  the  hands  manipulate  the  tools,  and  it 
is  a  drawback  to  have  a  set  design  before  one  which  has  to 
be  literally  adhered  to.  The  best  work  is  that  which  grows 
under  the  craftsman's  hand,  for  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  for 
anyone  to  see  what  should  be  done  from  the  beginning ;  it. 


A   METHOD   OF  STUDY.  3 

must  be  evolved  as  the  work  proceeds.     A  sketch  is  much 
what  the  heads  of  a  sermon  are  to  the  delivered  oration. 

If  the  craftsman  were  in  every  sense  the  author  of  the 
work,  it  would  gain  both  in  interest  and  character,  and  to 
that  end  I  shall  hope  to  direct  particular  attention  in  these 


No.  I. — Beaten  Copper  Mirror  Frame  (Fivemiletown,  Co.  Tyrone). 
This  and  the  four  following  cuts  show  the  excellent  work  produced 
in  villages  and  small  towns  by  amateur  craftsmen. 

pages  to  the  matter  of  design,  and  it  is  a  reasonable  hope 
that  this  book  may  not  only  stimulate,  but  help  those 
workers  who  peruse  it  to  carry  out  their  own  ideas  instead 
of  merely  executing  what  some  one  else  has  invented.  As 
I  am  responsible  for  a  proportion  of  the  designs  given  in 


4  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

these  pages,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  say  that  my  chiet 
object  in  giving  them  is  that  they  may  do  something  to 
elucidate  the  text  and  help  the  reader  to  tread  with  somewhat 
surer  footing  the  slippery  pathway  of  the  art  he  has  essayed 
to  follow.  I  am  very  conscious  of  the  shortcomings  of 
many  of  the  designs,  but  no  worker  is  called  upon  to  use 
them  further  than  they  may  be  of  suggestive  value  to  him. 
Treat  these  drawings  as  raw  material  which  every  worker 
can  use  in  his  own  way :  no  harm  will  then  befall  anyone, 
and  some  of  my  efforts  may  thus  be-  of  value  in  suggesting 
ideas  and  schemes  which  can  be  fashioned  and  shaped  by 
"  the  tools'  true  play."  All  mere  drawings  of  this  nature, 
destined  to  be  carried  out  by  the  crafts,  suffer  from  this  dis- 
advantage, that  they  in  no  sense  give  the  slightest  idea  of 
the  appearance  of  the  completed  work  itself.  A  design 
for  a  carved  panel  and  a  photograph  of  the  panel  when 
carved,  are  two  very  different  things,  and  as  there  are 
many  examples  scattered  through  these  pages  engraved  from 
photographs  of  the  actual  objects,  they,  by  contrast,  make 
the  mere  drawings  for  the  same  crafts  appear  exceedingly 
thin  and  commonplace.  This  is  not  said  to  excuse  defi- 
ciencies, but  to  warn  the  reader  that  only  the  bare  facts  can 
be  given  in  a  sketch — the  charm  of  workmanship,  the 
beauty  of  surface,  tooling,  and  all  that  goes  to  make 
craftsmanship  is  wanting.  It  is  much  as  though  we  took 
the  plot  of  Ivanhoe  and  gave  it  to  a  person,  expecting  them 
to  judge  of  the  novel  by  this  mere. catalogue  of  names  and 
incidents. 

The  tendency  of  all  designs  for  the  crafts  is  to  be  want- 
ing in  simplicity,  and  this  I  think  comes  about  through  the 
desire  of  the  designer  to  make  a  pretty-looking  drawing. 


A   METHOD   OF  STUDY.  5 

Just  as  the  synopsis  of  a  story  seems  very  bald  and  "com- 
monplace when  printed,  so  does  a  sketch  made  for  any  craft 
look  thin  and  empty,  and  yet  if  carried  out  this  very  poor- 
looking  drawing  would  in  all  likelihood  be  far  more  effective 
and  suited  to  the  craft  than  a  highly  ornate  one.  Were  we 
just  to  draw  in  outHne  some  of  the  photographs  in  these 
pages,  which,  taken  direct  from  the  objects  themselves,  give 


No.  2. — Oak  Chest.     Locking  Class,  under  Miss  Gimingham. 


some  slight  sense  of  the  beauty  of  material  in  which  they 
are  wrought  and  the  skill  of  the  hand  that  fashioned  them, 
we  should  find  that  there  would  be  a  great  want  of  charm 
in  them.  Point  can  be  given  to  this  remark  by  instancing 
a  line  tooled  on  leather,  and  one  drawn  on  paper.  Draw 
on  paper  a  choice  binding,  and  it  resembles  the  work  itself 


6  ART  CRAFTS   FOR   AMATEURS. 

about  as  much  as  a  phonograph  does  the  song  or  playing  it 
records. 

The  pubhshers  have  been  lavish  in  the  matter  of  illustra- 
tions, and  have  allowed  me  to  give  a  very  large  number  of 
examples.  It  is  only  possible  to  do  this  and  keep  the  book 
at  a  moderate  price  where  a  large  stock  of  blocks  can  be 
drawn  upon.  In  fact,  it  is  only  since  blocks  have  been 
made  by  the  half-tone  process  direct  from  photographs  of 
actual  work  that  a  book  such  as  this  could  be  issued.  In 
making  the  selection  of  illustrations  I  have  endeavoured  to 
be  as  eclectic  as  possible,  so  that  craftsmanship  generally 
can  be  studied,  and  not  just  one  phase  of  it.  I  would  care- 
fully guard  against  a  disposition  to  put  forward  certain  styles 
or  methods  of  work  as  a  standard  of  excellence  to  which 
all  should  conform.  In  looking  at  the  prize  works  from  the 
schools  of  art  throughout  the  country  exhibited  this  summer 
at  South  Kensington,  one  was  struck  by  the  fashion  there  is 
in  designs.  A  certain  likeness  was  observable  in  a  number 
of  the  sketches  which  one  could  trace  to  their  source,  and 
though  this  tendency  may  be  inevitable,  it  does  not  appear 
to  me  one  to  be  encouraged.  Style  is  individuality,  and 
though  this  is  a  well-worn  maxim  it  is  nevertheless  con- 
stantly being  ignored  by  teachers  and  professors.  The 
contemplation  of  examples,  however  excellent  they  be,  if  it 
lead  to  the  exclusion  of  personality  and  character,  is  detri- 
mental to  the  work  of  the  student.  Greek  art  is  perfect  in 
its  way,  but  what  a  stagnation  and  dry  up  of  all  that  makes 
work  interesting  and  vital  ensued  from  a  slavish  adherence 
to  what  were  termed  canons  of  taste,  said  to  be  derived  from 
a  study  of  classical  examples.  There  is  no  longer  any  art 
salvation  in  the  acanthus  leaf  or  honeysuckle  border ;  we 


A   METHOD   OF  STUDY,  ^ 

must  go  to  fresh  sources  of  inspiration  -,  if  need  were,  track 
the  unknown,  for  the  well-worn  pathway  has  become  -too 
polished  for  us  to  find  foothold.  Did  not  the  time  come  in 
English  painting  for  a  departure  from  the  schools,  and 
hence  the  pre-Raphaelite  movement  which  led  the  student 
to  contemplate  some  earlier  masters  than  Raphael  ? 


No.  3. — Embossed  Copper  Work. 
By  the  Yattenden  Class,  under  Mrs.  Waterhouse. 


I  was  severely  rebuked  by  one  critic  who  reviewed  my 
former  work.  The  Training  of  a  Craftstnan,  for  my 
advocacy  of  individuaUty  in  art,  making  it  the  expression 
of  one's  ego.  "  A  lot  of  young  men  and  women  doing  what 
they  think  is  right  in  their  own  eyes  forsooth ! "     Would 


8  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

these  same  young  men  and  women  be  any  more  interesting 
if  they  slavishly  conformed  to  certain  canons,  the  said 
canons  being  the  learned  professor's  conception  of  what  art 
should  be?  It  is  obvious  enough  that  genius  is  a  rare 
thing,  but  we  all  have  that  within  us  which  makes  us  dif- 
ferent in  some  way  from  other  people,  and  slight  as  this 
personality  may  be,  it  should  surely  find  expression  and  not 
be  sneered  out  of  existence  by  some  superior  person  who 
can  only  move  and  think  by  precedent.  The  Chinese  have 
gone  on  through  the  centuries  contemplating  and  studying 
their  nine  classics,  but  what  advance  do  they  make  ? 

We  must  be  constantly  breaking  fresh  ground  if  our  crops 
are  not  to  deteriorate,  and  though  what  is  grown  on  the 
new  soil  may  at  first  be  a  little  coarse,  that  is  better  surely 
than  the  attenuation  of  over-cultivation  and  emasculation 
through  loss  of  virility ;  for  art,  like  people,  can  be  bred  out 
of  all  use. 

Vigour,  character,  even  barbarity  and  crudity,  are  better 
qualities  in  art  than  a  suave  conventional  perfection,  the 
hard  polish,  the  splendidly  null.  The  art  that  is  most 
stimulating  to  study  is  the  art  of  savages,  ojr  at  all  events  of 
primitive  peoples.  The  more  civilised  na?tipns  become  the 
more  conventional  becomes  the  expression  (pttor  emotions, 
and  we  need  to  get  down  to  the  bed-rock  of  human  nature 
if  we  are  to  receive  the  most  vital  stimulus  that  the  study  of 
other  work  can  give.  The  art  turned  out  by  schools  is 
generally  speaking  deadening  in  its  regulated,  codified  per- 
fection ;  it  just  lacks  the  "  savageness  "  which  lays  hold  of 
one  as  the  tiger's  paw  does  its  prey. 

Let  us  reverence  and  love  old  work.  Having  spent  a 
good  deal  of  time  in  museums  I  may  claim  to  have  some 


A   METHOD   OF  STUDY. 


slight  acquaintance  with  much  that  is  good  :  my  advice  to 
my  readers  is  by  all  means  study  old  work ;  go  where  it  is 
to  be  seen,  draw  specimens  that  appeal  to  you,  but  avoid 
imitating  it.     Try  and  do  something  on  your  own,  and  to 


No.  4. — Tooled  Bookbinding. 
By  the  Leighton  Buzzard  Class,  under  Miss  Bassett. 

keep  your  soul  sweet,  never  cease  going  to  the  fountain 
head,  Nature,  for  she,  after  all,  is  the  source  of  all  inspiration. 
You  can  exhaust  everything  else  but  her.  Always  be  on 
the  look  out  for  agreeable  lines,  pleasant  shapes ;  keep  on 


lo  ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 

the  alert  for  striking  combinations ;  ideas  may  come  to  one 
at  any  moment,  suggested  by  the  most  unlikely  material.  It 
is  true  that  the  basis  of  ornament  is  plant-form,  and  more 
ideas  may  come  to  one  through  that  source  than  any  other, 
but  a  suggestion  for  the  planning  and  arranging  of  your 
material  may  come  from  a  fish's  bone,  a  bird's  wing,  the 
markings  on  a  moth,  as  I  have  endeavoured  to  show  in  my 
Training  of  a  Craftsman.  Therefore  the  worker  should 
make  a  practice  of  sketching  from  nature — not  merely  plant 
form,  but  any  form.  A  note  should  at  once  be  made  when 
an  idea  or  suggestion  comes  to  one,  so  treacherous  is  the 
memory;  and  remember  this,  that  by  cultivating  a  faculty 
you  not  only  increase  its  receptiveness,  but  also  its  activity. 
You  may  start  by  having  no  ideas,  and  yet  by  degrees,  by 
getting  the  mind  travelling  that  way,  astonish  yourself  by 
your  fertility  of  resource.  It  is  another  instance  of  a  waste 
place  blossoming  as  the  rose.  The  great  difficulty  we  all 
experience  is  to  start  the  mind,  to  overcome  the  inertia  due 
to  inactivity.  It  is  something  like  getting  a  gas  engine  to 
move  which  has  been  cold  for  a  long  time ;  overcome  the 
initial  difiiculty  and  it  will  work  away  right  well. 

It  is  easy  to  adapt  a  design  drawn  for  one  kind  of  work 
to  fit  it  for  some  other,  but  where  this  is  done  the  alterations 
must  be  made  with  circumspection,  for  nothing  is  in  worse 
taste  than  to  see,  say,  the  effect  of  tooled  leather,  produced 
by  inlaying.  Those  who  work  in  leather  soon  learn  to 
know  what  can  best  be  done  by  tooling  just  as  those  who 
inlay  learn  to  appreciate  the  effects  given  by  letting  in 
coloured  woods  in  a  panel;  and  that  brings  us  back  once 
more  to  our  former  position,  the  desirability  of  each  worker 
being  the  designer  of  his  own  handiwork  instead  of  working 


A   METHOD   OF  STUDY.  ii 

fettered   by   having   the  ideas  of  another   imposed   upon 
him. 


Xo. 


-Oak  Settle  in  the  Swan  Hotel,  Southwuld. 
Southwold  School  of  Industrial  Art. 


With  regard  to  fashion  in  design  which  I  touched  upon 
in  a  former  paragraph,  no  one  can  help  being  influenced  by 


12  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

the  work  one  admires  around  him ;  but  there  gets  to  be  a 
feeling  abroad  that,  because  a  very  dominating  personality- 
works  in  a  particular  way,  that  is  the  only  excellent  way 
of  working.  What  so  often  happens  is  that  the  followers 
of  a  strong  personality  imitate  their  master's  weaknesses  and 
leave  out  the  qualities  that  make  him  a  master  mind.  It  is 
as  unfortunate  as  it  is  true  that  the  affectations  and  con- 
ventionalities are  the  qualities  seized  upon  and  perpetuated 
by  pupils,  while  the  spirit  denominating  the  whole  is  lost 
sight  of.  Just  as  we  quicker  see  the  faults  and  failings  of 
our  friends  than  their  excellencies,  so  we  lay  hold  of  the 
mere  surface  trickery  of  artists  and  think  that,  because  we 
get  the  knack  of  reproducing  that  side  of  the  man,  we  must 
be  making  progress.  Set  no  one  up  as  a  master,  be  no 
man's  pupil,  but  a  student  of  the  world  with  all  that  is  of 
good  report  under  one's  purview.  One's  equilibrium  is  thus 
preserved  when  many  influences  are  pulling  at  one.  Study 
what  you  most  affect  is  well-worn  but  very  excellent  advice, 
for  there  are  always  those  who  wish  to  force  upon  one  sets 
of  principles,  and  who  at  once  enunciate  canons  which  they 
would  have  us  receive  as  infallible  dogmas  just  because 
they  have  a  penchant  for  certain  old  work.  Think  of  the 
books  that  in  one's  youth  came  to  one  with  an  over- 
whelming recommendation  which  bur  own  feelings  did  not 
endorse,  so  that  much  of  one's  time  was  spent  in  trying  to 
like  that  which  one's  ego  rebelled  at.  My  own  experience 
is  that  it  is  only  after  years  of  study  one  learns  to  see  the 
transcendent  qualities  in  the  very  work  one  is  expected  to 
venerate  at  the  outset  of  one's  career:  those  classical 
examples  which  it  was  more  the  custom  in  the  past  than  it 
is  now  to  force  upon  the  tyro's  attention.     Were  I  to  be 


A   MRTHOD   OF  STUDY. 


13 


planning  out  the  training  of  a  student  in  the  crafts  I  should 
devote  much  more  time  to  work  direct  from  nature  than 


No.  6. — Carved  Wood  Panel. 
Welbeck  Class  ;   designed  by  Joseph  Phillips. 


seeing  nature  through  the  eyes  of  other  folk,  which  is  what 


14  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

we  do  when  we  accept  others'  rendering  of  what  is  seen. 
And  for  the  amateur  who  follows  a  craft  as  a  pleasant 
recreation,  a  hobby  in  which  he  can  forget  some  of  the 
miseries  and  disappointments  of  life,  man  being  a  tool-using 
animal  who  should  rejoice  in  his  labour,  that  being  his 
portion,  he  should  certainly  be  influenced  from  within 
rather  than  from  without,  and  do  that  which  he  feels  rather 
than  what  someone  else  tells  him  he  should  feel.  While 
any  work  is  in  progress  try  and  visit  a  museum  where  good 
examples  in  that  particular  craft  are  to  be  seen.  It  is 
wonderful  how  helpful  a  museum  is  when  one  visits  it  for  a 
definite  purpose  ;  so  different  to  the  feeling  one  experiences 
when  one  walks  around  with  no  motive  to  direct  one's  gaze 
to  anything  in  particular. 

In  the  following  pages  we  will  give  some  individual 
attention  to  the  leading  art-crafts,  and  the  best  way,  it  seems 
to  me,  to  set  about  imparting  knowledge  is  to  treat  the 
reader  as  an  apprentice,  and  let  him  pick  up  the  dodges, 
wrinkles,  or  whatever  you  like  to  term  the  helps  the  profes- 
sional worker  resorts  to,  and  for  the  want  of  which  the 
amateur  is  so  severely  handicapped. 


CHAPTER  II. 
WOOD  CARVING. 


HAVE  chosen  Wood  Carving  for  our 
first  practical  lesson  owing  to  its  un- 
doubted popularity  among  nonprofes- 
sional workers  ;  and  the  reason  for  this 
is  not  far  to  seek.  It  is  a  craft  calling 
into  play  the  utmost  amount  of  resource 
and  hand-cunning,  as  well  as  dexterity 
in  the  use  of  tools,  while  it  does  not  leave  out  the  higher 
attributes  of  fancy,  ingenuity,  and  even  imagination  itself, 
wherewith  to  direct  the  fingers,  and  the  "  trick  of  the  tools' 
true  play."  Casaubon  in  "  Middlemarch "  was  recom- 
mended to  take  up  turning  as  a  relaxation  to  his  serious 
and  brain- wearing  pursuit  of  discovering  the  ''  key  to  all  the 
mythologies":  wood  carving  would  probably  have  suited 
him  better  as  being  more  ''brainy"  than  turning,  without 
being  too  serious  a  strain  upon  the  nerves. 

I  assume  that  most  of  my  readers  are  craftsmen,  for  it  is 
not  the  intention  of  this  work  to  give  preliminary  instruc- 
tion so  much  as  to  direct  their  work,  to  suggest  various 
methods  of  treating  the  material,  how  the  amateur  can  best 
utilise  his  energy,  and  turn  his  labour  to  advantage,  though 
at  the  end  of  the  chapter  will  be  found  a  few  hints  useful  to 
those  starting  work  for  the  first  time.  Above  all  I  wish  to 
help  him  to  original  efforts  by  essaying  to  show  him  how 
nature  may  be  adapted  to  the  requirements  of  each  craft, 
to  the  end  that  all  workers  may  be  able  to  express  their 


i6 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


individuality  instead  of  being   content  to  be  copyists  or 
reproducers  of  the  work  of  other  minds  and  hands.     For 


No.  7. — Sketch  design  for  carved  table-top  in  which  the  Vine 
is  used  as  the  motif.  The  work  is  kept  entirely  flat,  the 
effect  being  obtained  chiefly  by  the  "  grounding  out,"  for 
beyond  the  veining  of  the  leaves,  and  the  slight  cutting  away 
of  one  form  to  give  relief  to  another  coming  against  it,  the 
actual  carving  ends  there.  It  would  be  possible  to  treat  this 
design  as  a  carving  in  low  relief.  By  planning  the  design 
geometrically  it  matters  not  from  which  side  it  is  seen. 


surely  every  one  desires  to  be  original,  to  express  the  ideas 
which  are  born  in  his  brain — his  ego,  as  it  is  termed.  But 
to  originate  one's  own  designs  is  for   most '  amateurs   the 


IVOOD    CARVING.  17 

•difficulty,  and  comparatively  few  attempt  it  because  they 
are  not  directed  how  to  set  about  it ;  yet  it  is  by  no  means 
easy  to  obtain  design?.  The  few  that  are  to  be  purchased 
are  too  often  quite  unworthy  the  labour  involved  in  carrying 
them  out,  and  it  always  seems  to  me  a  grievous  waste  of 
time  to  merely  employ  the  fingers,  to  lavish  a  high  degree  of 
skill  upon  a  poor  or  unsuitable  design. 

We  know  that  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun,  and 
it  is  given  to  very  few  to  make  a  fresh  departure  in  any 
branch  of  work.  But  it  is  possible  to  see  old  things  in 
a  new  way,  and  by  colouring  them  with  our  personality 
to  give  them  new  life.  Old  work,  so  powerful  a  source  of 
inspiration  and  stimulus  to  most  of  us,  instead  of  being 
servilely  reproduced  can  be  adapted  and  altered,  and  by 
passing  through  our  brain  and  receiving  the  impress  of 
ourselves,  comes  out  of  our  minds'  jnint  with  a  new  super- 
scription :   we  hall  mark  it,  in  fact. 

The  vine  design,  for  instance,  No.  7,  was  suggested  by  a 
panel  of  old  German  carving ;  yet  the  departures  made  are 
sufficiently  important  to  enable  men  to  claim  it  as  original. 
One  engineer  friend  who  has  made  wood  carving  his  hobby, 
and  has  obtained  considerable  skill  in  the  use  of  tools,  gets 
his  designs  by  taking  rubbings  of  old  carving  he  meets  with 
in  churches;  but  unless  one  exercises  some  skill  in  the 
selection  and  arrangement  of  such  material,  it  is  apt  to  look 
scrappy  and  wanting  in  unity  of  design.  It  is  essential  in 
planning  out  an  idea  to  have  some  notion  of  how  the  work 
will  look  as  a  whole,  some  central  scheme  which  ties  the 
work  together  and  gives  it  a  one-ness.  It  is  no  use  thinking 
of  details  until  the  main  lines  of  the  work  are  securely  laid, 
and    this   plan    of    carving   bits   and  then  putting   them 

c 


i8 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 


all  together  later  on  cannot  lead  to  the  best  results.     Take 
the  examples  of  seventeenth-century  carving  in  Nos.  8  and  9 


No.  8. — These  two  fragments  from  the  Pulpit  in  the  no-longer- 
existing  Church  of  St.  Mildred,  in  the  Poultry,  London,  are 
very  characteristic  of  the  lime.  The  candng  is  in  considerable 
relief,  so  that  it  can  be  undercut.  The  "  frame,"  which  was 
the  border  to  each  panel,  would  make  a  very  good  picture- 
frame,  as  the  design  is  admirably  adapted  to  wood  carving. 
The  fmit  festoons  are  met  with  in  all  work  which  has  been 
classed  as  "Grinling  Gibbons." 

from  the  pulpit  of  St.  Mildred's  Church  (now  no  more),  and  it 


WOOD    CARVING.  .     19 

will  be  seen  that  there  is  this  unity  or  one-ness  I  just  spoke  of. 


No.  9. — Pulpit  from  the  Church  of  St.  Mildred's,  which  formeriy 
stood  in  the  Poultry,  showing  the  general  design.  Portions 
of  the  work  on  a  larger  scale  are  given  in  No.  8. 


20  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

I  must  be  pardoned  for  referring  to  my  own  work  as  a 
designer,  but  illustrations  in  such  a  work  being  as  important 
as  the  letterpress,  feeble  as  one's  efforts  may  be,  one  can  better 
illustrate  one's  own  ideas,  than  find  them  illustrated  for  one. 
Moreover  I  do  not  give  them  as  showing  the  only  way,  but 
merely  one  way  of  treating  wood,  leaving  each  reader  to 
take  and  reject  what  he  will.  He  can  adapt  me  just  as  I 
adapt  material  I  come  across.  Wood  carving  has  been  so 
trammelled  by  the  past  that  few  carvers  have  had  the  cou- 
rage to  seek  to  get  out  of  the  groove  of  precedent.  This 
bondage  of  the  past  is  sadly  hampering  to  anything  like 
originality.  What  we  want  now  is  work  of  to-day,  the  style 
of  the  nineteenth  century  instead  of  thirteenth  century 
Gothic,  Cinquecento,  Frangois  I.  and  the  rest  of  the 
"  Schools."  In  my  Training  of  a  Craftsman  (H.  Virtue  and 
Company,  Limited,  1897),  I  have  exalted  the  ego  above  all 
tradition  and  that  adherence  to  precedent  which  so  checks 
all  original  impulse,  and  to  the  amateur  I  say  emphatically, 
let  your  work  be  yourself :  it  is  better  that  it  should  be 
that,  and  even  rococo,  than  very  chaste  and  in  "  perfect 
style,"  but  a  shadow  of  some  one  else. 

I  am  no  purist  in  the  matter  of  style.  Learn  of  every 
one,  study  in  all  schools,  but  copy  no  one.  We  are  con- 
stantly having  a  critic  starting  up  and  claiming  his  o?ie  way 
of  looking  at  nature  and  rendering  his  impressions  as  the 
way.  There  is  no  one  way  :  there  are  at  least,  according  to 
Rudyard  Kipling,  nine-and-sixty.  I  am  Gothic  in  sentiment, 
and  for  many  years  was  blinded  to  the  work  which  for  con- 
venience is  grouped  under  the  head  of  Renaissance.  Yet 
the  three  old  examples  of  wood  carving  I  give  are  all  of  the 
latter  ichool,  and  I  have  done  this  with  intention,  for  so 


WOOD    CARVING. 


much  amateur  carving  is  merely  a  servile  copy  of  Gothic 
work  wherein   the  letter  is  seen,  the  spirit  having  escaped, 


Xo.  lo. — Tiiis  is  a  rough  sketch  of  a  portion  ot  the  carved  panels 
forming  the  Screen  in  Trinity  College,  Oxford.  The  workmanship 
is  as  iine  as  anything  I  know,  and  the  whole  being  pierced,  has  a 
light  and  elegant  appearance  which  is  delightful.  The  design  is 
very  intricate,  but  the  ingenuity  with  which  the  curves  play  into 
each  other  evinces  much  skill  and  resource.  The  wreaths  and 
festoons  are  good  instances  of  the  seventeenth-century  "  conceits" 
so  often  met  with  in  the  decoration  of  the  time.  The  introduction 
of  angels'  heads  gives  a  human  interest  to  the  work. 

that  it  appeared  likely  to  lead  to  more  useful  ends  to  examine 
the  work  which  is  considered  to  be  opposed  to  the  Gothic 


22 


AR2'  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


No.  II. — Nature  Notes  used  in  making  Designs  6  and  7.  It  will  be 
noticed  that  apples  are  anything  but  round,  and  their  angular 
nature  should  be  made  a  feature  of  in  a  carving  based  (>n  the  apple. 
"Truth  to  nature"  is  being  true  to  the  grow'th  of  the  plant  you 
base  your  design  upon,  however  much  you  may  ornamentalise 
certain  features  of  the  plant.  If  you  depart  from  nature,  be  sure 
that  you  gain  thereby. 


WOOD    CARVING. 


tradition.  The  examples  are  so  characteristic  as  well  as 
excellent  in  themselves  that  that  was  quite  sufficient  reason 
to  warrant  me  giving  them  had  I  no  other.  While  a  study 
of  Gothic  will  give  our  work  robustness,  virility,  and  a  feel- 
ing for  nature,  a  study  say  of  the  screen  by  Grinling  Gib- 
bons— a  frag- 
ment of  which  I 
give  a  sketch  of 
in  No.  lo — will 
teach  us  grace 
and  balance,  a 
feeling  fo  r 
curves  and  in- 
genuity in  the 
interweaving  of 
scrolls;  while 
the  original  at 
Oxford  will  re- 
veal to  us  the 
possibilities  of 
wood  under  the 
hands  of  a 
craftsman  who 
could  hold  a 
gouge  with  a 
skill  and  un- 
hesitating assurance — a  contemptuous  indifference — which 
makes  him  one  of  the  greatest  of  English  carvers.  Yet 
because  much  of  Gibbons'  work  is  of  the  ^'papery"  finicking 
order,  best  styled  rococo,  some  present-day  craftsmen  pre- 
tend to  see  nothing  but  what  is  bad  in  it.     There  may  be 


No.  12. — Carved  Lamp  Bracket,  treated  with 
decorative  adaptation  of  the  apple  in  low 
relief.  The  stems  are  highly  ornamen- 
talised,  but  in  other  respects  nature  is 
followed. 


24 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS, 


no  further  any  artistic  salvation  in  the  acanthus  leaf  in 
design,  all  that  that  mine  could  yield  having  been  worked 
out  until  no  ore  remains  for  us,  but  it  is  a  wilful  narrowing 
of  our  sympathies  to  shut  out  from  our  purview  the  work  of 
such  a  genius  as  this  great  seventeenth-century  carver. 
The  two  fragments,   No.  8,  from  the  pulpit  in  the  no- 


No.  13. — Clock  Bracket.  The  introduction  of  the  flowers  in  the  bracket 
portion  is  a  decorative  *'  conceit,"  though  it  is  often  possible  to  find 
an  apple  tree  flowering  and  fruiting  at  the  same  time,  while  in  such 
plants  as  the  blackberry  and  orange  it  is  the  usual  course  :  it  is  left 
to  the  designer  to  select  his  example,  as  well  as  his  point  of  view. 


longer-existing  Church  of  St.  Mildred's,  show  the  festoon 
conceit  adapted  to  a  pilaster.  A  central  rod  supports  the 
flowers  and  fruit,  which  are  attached  to  it  by  ribbons,  while 
an  undulating  scroll  of  foliage  twists  around  it.  The  frame 
is  one  which  has  often  been  worked,  and  will  continue  to 


f 


WOOD   CARVING. 


be  carved,  as  it  is  so  thoroughly  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the 
carver,  as  the  designs  seem  to  swell  out  of  the  moulding. 
Many  modifications  of  it  are  possible. 


14,— Design  for  Carved  Oak  Mantel- 
piece. The  shelf  is  intended  to  be 
supported  by  the  projecting  capitals  on 
either  side,  while  these  in  turn  are 
supported  by  the  tree.  No  individual 
tree  is  referred  to,  as  being  architectural 
in  position,  a  too  naturalistic  rendering 
would  be  out  of  place.  The  smaller 
"  trees  "  also  lend  support  to  the  shelf 
as  well  as  dividing  the  length  into 
panels.  The  flowers  occupying  these 
spaces  are  more  naturalistic. 


The  Study  of  old  work  should  run 

parallel    with    a    study   of   nature, 

and  I  would  say  that  one  is  of  no 

use  without  the  other.    Nature  alone 

might     suffice,    but    there   is    this 

danger   to   guard    against,    viz.,    a 

tendency  to  imitate  n attire  in  wood. 

What  is   meretricious    in   some   of 

Gibbons'  work  is  that  when  he  refers 

directly  to  nature  he  is  content  to  attempt  to  imitate  his 

forms    in    wood,    as    though     he     were     modelling    wax 

flowers.     Wood  carving  is  not  imitation,  but  carrying  out  a 


26  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

design,  which  is  in  itself  an  effort  of  the  imagination,  in 
wood  by  means  of  certain  tools,  the  true  use  of  which  has 
to  be  acquired  by  much  practice,  and  to  learn  how  to  adapt 
nature  to  the  needs  of  the  craft  you  follow'  is  to  learn  how 
to  design. 

There  is  no  mystery  in  designing,  as  some  appear  to 
think ;  it  is  merely  an  adaptation  of  means  to  end.  A  good 
many  amateurs  never  attempt  to  design  for  themselves  be- 
cause of  a  certain  mysteriousness,  as  they  think,  involved 
in  the  effort.  Let  us  look  a  little  closer  into  this,  and  see 
what  is  involved  in  making  a  design. 

We  will  start  with  nature,  and  I  give  in  No.  ii  a  few 
outline  studies  of  the  apple,  taken  from  one  of  my  sketch- 
books, as  a  help  to  any  one  desirous  of  carrying  out  the 
lamp  bracket  (No.  12),  or  the  clock  bracket  (No.  13),  both 
of  which  are  treated  with  a  suggestion  of  the  apple. 

There  is  no  reason  why  we  should  ever  tell  an  untruth  in 
a  design,  however  much  we  may  twist  and  pull  nature  about 
to  suit  our  fancy  or  the  exigency  of  the  piece  of  work  we 
have  in  hand.  The  growth  of  the  leaves  around  the  base 
of  the  stalks  and  their  growth  upon  terminal  branches  can 
be  told  in  our  carving  as  truthfully  as  in  a  pencil  study,  but 
we  let  our  fancy  loose  in  the  way  we  twist  the  stems  or 
branches,  arrange  where  the  flowers  and  fruit  are  to  come, 
and  in  the  way  we  simplify  the  details  so  that  we  can  render 
them  adequately  with  the  means  at  our  command.  It  is 
obvious,  for  instance,  that  we  must  depart  from  nature  by 
simplifying  her,  or  how  shall  we  render  the  stamens  in  the 
middle  of  the  flower?  and  our  taste  as  well  as  ingenuity  is 
shown  in  the  way  we  do  this  simplifying.  I  do  not  wish  to 
more  than  allude  in   passing  to  my  own  work,  lest   some 


WOOD    CARVING. 


27 


reader  should  come  to  think 
way,  but  it  is  pretty  plain 
that  I  believe  in  going 
direct  to  nature  for  inspi- 
ration, and  a  free  adaptation 
of  nature  is  the  one  I  should 
say  is  most  likely  to  lead  to 
original  work  on  the  part 
of  the  amateur.  And  let  me 
add,  too,  that  he  should  not 
rely  upon  books  of  studies 
or  photographs  of  plants, 
but  should  study  nature  for 
himself,  to  the  extent  of 
making  studies  of  sugges- 
tive forms  in  pencil  or  other 
medium.  Poor  as  such 
studies  may  be  (though 
with  a  little  practice  I  see 
no  reason  why  they  should 
be  poor)  compared  with 
the  skilled  work  one  sees 
in  books,  you  will  never 
get  to  know  a  plant  except 
by  drawing  it,  and  that, 
too,  many  times.  Take 
the  shape  of  an  apple,  how 
various  it  is  !  What  beau- 
tiful angles  its  sides  make  ! 
How  "  square  "  rather  than 
round  it  is  !    How  truthful 


the  way  /  have  used  nature  the 


No.  15.— Sketch  of  one  of  the  Choir 
Stalls  in  Cockayne  Hatley 
Church,  Bedfordshire.  The 
fine  carving  in  this  church  was 
brought  from  Italy  early  in  this 
century.  It  probably  dates  from 
the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  is  very  character- 
istic in  style,  and  fine  in 
execution. 


28  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

you   can   be  with   advantage    as   you   carve  each    apple, 


/(TnnniRin'r  I  'twM-  ■ 


TT^    I     •   K-rflt 


No.  i6, — Studies  helpfulj  in  bird  ,cai-ving,  adapted  from  Japanese 
carvings  in  very  low  relief.  An  ornamental  treatment  is  necessary 
if  birds  are  to  keep  their  place  in  carving.  The  wings  and  tail  lend 
themselves  to  a  highly  ornamental  treatment,  as  can  be  seen  in  the 
diagram. 

getting   no   two  exactly  alike  !     If  you  try  to  carve  your 


WOOD    CARVING. 


29 


apples  without  reference  to  nature,  how  tame,  because 
mechanical,  will  the  result  be  !  Where  the  work  of  other 
men  and  times  may  be  of  help  is  in  suggesting  how  you 


No.  17. — Beer  Jug?,  Flat  Bread  Box,  and  Cheese  Box,  from  Soetersdal 
and  Thelemark.  Good  examples  of  simple  patterns  well  adapted 
to  their  purpose. 


may  pull  and  twist  nature  into  quaint  and  cunning 
devices.  If  we  look  at  the  screen  (No.  10)  we  find 
Gibbons  did  not  evolve  a  design  logically  from  some  one 


30  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

plant,  but  he  weaves  together  two  or  more  distinct  motifs. 
The  scroll-work  is  evolved  by  the  fancy  of  the  artist,  though 
the  acanthus-like  leaves  show  that  such  scroll-work  was  the 
common  property  of  the  time.  But  at  the  top  he  introduces 
two  wreaths,  one  of  laurel  and  one  of  blossoms,  held  up  by 
ribbonS;  while  lower  down  festoons  of  flowers  naturally 
treated  are  suspended  from  the  scrolls.  These  motifs  are 
purely  artificial  arrangements,  "  conceits "  we  might  term 
them,  and  some  might  hesitate  to  copy  them.  I  lean  to  a 
design  which  is  evolved  from  nature,  like  the  vine  in  No.  7, 
without  the  introduction  of  such  "  conceits  " ;  for  though 
the  tendrils  and  the  main  stem  are  highly  ornamentalised, 
and  the  grapes  introduced  more  as  a  background  than  as 
bunches  of  fruit,  no  artificial  motifs,  as  the  wreaths  and  rib- 
bons, are  imported  into  the  scheme ;  and  yet  in  the  same 
breath  I  must  confess  to  a  fondness  for  the  "festoon," 
which  is  certainly  a  conceit. 

There  is  no  more  difficult  subject  to  write  about  than 
design.  Its  principles,  if  it  has  any,  elude  analysis,  while  as 
for  professing  to  teach  it,  I  would  as  lief  attempt  to  make  a 
poet.  You  might  produce  a  versifier  and  you  might  teach 
a  student  a  certain  number  of  "conceits"  in  design,  but 
designing  is  as  much  a  mental  attribute  as  an  ear  for  music 
It  is  directed  by  feeling  and  intuition,  and  conditioned  by 
our  point  of  view,  and  cannot  be  taught,  though  various 
books  profess  to  do  so.  Still,  as  I  have  just  endeavoured 
to  show,  there  is  no  mystery  about  it,  and  anyone  can  start  to 
adapt  some  natural  form  to  suit  the  shape  of  the  article  and 
the  method  employed  in  producing  it,  and  by  degrees  he 
will  gain  confidence  and  cultivate  an  eye  for  agreeable  lines, 
carves,  and  shapes. 


WOOD    CARVING. 


31 


35 


32  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

Hand-cunning,  however,  can  be  taught,  and  I  would 
recommend  any  one  wishing  for  instruction  in  the  use  of 
tools,  and  how  to  set  about  carving,  to  get  a  few  lessons  of 
a  practical  carver,  and  then  work  on,  beginning  with  simple 
work  like  the  vine.  No.  7,  in  which  the  *'  grounding  out"  is 
the  most  important  part  of  the  work,  the  actual  carving 
being  confined  to  taking  down  a  form  coming  under  another 
one,  and  here  and  there  taking  out  a  vein  in  the  leaves 


No.  19. — Panel  of  Gurnard  and  water,  treated  Japanesque'y  for  low 
relief.  The  Japanese  treatment  of  water,  as  of  other  form';,  is 
most  ingeniously  ornamental,  and  is  valuable  as  a  course  of  study 
by  all  wo  )d-carvers.  The  Japanese  appear  to  think,  (  r  to  see,  all 
objects  in  what  we  call  a  decorative  way,  i.e.,  they  devel<>p  the 
ornamental  possibilities  of  the  object,  or  else  simplify  it  by  showing 
gre.it  restraint  in  rendering  it. 


(though  this  must  not  be  overdone,  for  there  must  be  no 
attempt  to  give  the  appearance  of  "  real  "  leaves).  I  like  to 
see  a  certain  severity,  even  a  touch  of  the  barbarian,  about 
wood  carving.  I  hate  work  which  is  as  smooth  as  wax,  and 
where  every  roughness  and  tool  mark  is  polished  away. 
Let  the  tool  marks  show.  In  the  apples,  for  instance,  don't 
get  the  smoothness  of  a  real  apple,  but  give  the  contour  by 
a  series  of  well-directed  angular  cuts,  equivalent   to   the 


WOOD    CARVING. 


33 


facets  of  a  gem.  Crisp,  nervous,  vigorous  cutting  is  what  is 
Avanted  if  your  work  is  to  look  "  alive."  The  work  that  palls 
upon  one  is  that  in  which 'all  is  suave,  genteel,  decorous ; 
where  nature  is  suggested  as  successfully  as  in  a  waxen  effigy. 
In  the  illustrations  I  have  drawn,  it  has  been  my  endea- 
vour to  give  variety  of  sub- 
ject as  well  as  of  treatment, 
beginning  with  flat  work, 
as  in  No.  7,  suitable  for  a 
table  top,  which  would 
practise  one  in  "  grounding 
out,"  going  on  to  the  two 
brackets  Nos.  12  and  13. 
which  are  in  relief,  though 
not  in  very  high  relief,  and 
then  the  mantelpiece  No. 
14,  where  the  work  is  still 
in  low  relief.  The  shelf  in 
I  his  design  is  intended  to 
be  supported  by  two  pro- 
jecting brackets  at  either 
end,  and  these  would  ot 
course  be  carved  out  of  two 
distinct  blocks  of  wood, 
shaped  for  the  purpose. 
The  stem  of  the  "  tree  "  in 

each  pilaster  supports  these  brackets,  which  are  carved 
with  leaves,  and  behind  I^have  indicated  a  bird  nesting 
— a  conceit,  though  a  natural  one.  The  smaller  trees 
under  the  shelf  could  also  project  further  than  the  flowers 
l)etween  them  to  help  support  the  shelf.      The  roots  are 

D 


Xo.  20.  —  Design  lor  carved 
Bellows  Front  in  high  relief. 
For  the  head  refer  to  No.  15. 


31 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 


developed,  as  will  be  noticed,  into  an  ornamental  feature. 
There  is  nothing  in   the  arrangement  of  this   design    that 

should  be  beyond  the  scope  of 
an  amateur,  for  of  invention, 
i.e.,  something  evolved  by  a 
pure  effort  of  the  imagination^ 
there  is  but  little.  What 
ornamental  features  there  are 
is  due  to  dividing  up  the 
spaces  to  be  treated  inta 
panels,  and  developing  such 
parts  of  the  plant  as  the  roots^ 
emphasising  any  ornamental 
suggestiveness  that  nature 
hints  at.  A  free  treatment  of 
foliage,  as  in  the  upright 
panel  and  the  dividing  trees,^ 
is  always  effective  in  carving 
and  a  shrub  like  the  Portugal 
laurel  could  be  taken  as  the 
type,  while  such  well-known 
flowers  as  the  Tulip,  Narcissus,. 
and  Iris  are  used  to  fill  in  the 
spaces  at  top,  these  being 
treated  somewhat  more  natu-^ 
rally  to  contrast  with  the 
severer  character  of  the 
"  trees"  dividing  the  space  inta 
panels,  no  direct  reference 
to  any  particular^tree  being  made  :  these  may  be  taken  as  a 
type  of  growth  rather  than  the  representation  of  an  indi- 


.  21. — Design  for  carved 
Bellows  Front.  The  bird, 
a  convtntional  rendeiing 
of  the  long-eared  owl,  in 
high  relief.  A  quaint, 
rather  than  a  pretty, 
naturalistic  rendering  of 
birds  or  other  animal 
forms  is  generally  to  be 
preferred.  The  Gothic 
grotesques  are  a  good 
example  to  have  be  I  ore 
one  in  this  class  of  work. 


WOOD    CARVING,  35, 

vidual  plant,  which  is  not  the  case  with  the  flowers  occupy- 
ing the  intervals.  Plenty  of  wood  should  be  removed  in 
carrying  out  this  design,  and  I  may  remark  that  amateurs 
too  often  leave  too  much  wood,  a  sure  way  to  produce 
heaviness  and  clumsiness.  Your  carving  should  lie  lightly 
and  gracefully  upon  the  surface  of  your  panel,  and  this 
means  "  shifting  "  a  good  deal  of  your  background. 

In  all  work  it  is  important  to  bear  in  mind  the  desirability 
of  obtaining  relief  by  not  getting  the  same  class  of  motifs 
all  over  the  work.  These  '*  trees,"  therefore,  I  have  just 
referred  to,  should  be  treated  ornamentally  (even  the  roots 
become  ornament).  The  side  panels  again  are  much  less 
naturalistic  as  they  occupy  an  architectural  position  in  the 
design,  carrying  as  they  do  the  shelf,  while  the  "sprigs" 
can  be  much  more  naturalesque.  The  birds  (suggested  by 
the  woodpecker)  I  have  introduced  to  give  a  point  of  in- 
terest and  to  break  up  the  upright  line  of  the  trunk.  Some 
carvers  may  prefer  the  panel  minus  the  birds  :  it  would  be 
easy  to  leave  them  out  and  substitute  leaves.  The  panel 
on  the  other  side  might  have  a  squirrel  or  birds,  like  the 
nuthatch,  for  it  is  an  indication  of  mental  poverty  to  repeat 
such  emphatic  forms  as  birds.  You  may  repeat  forms  which 
nearly  approach  pure  ornament,  but  not  such  forms  as 
birds,  which,  as  a  rule,  are  introduced  to  give  variety  to  the 
design,  nor  should  the  flowers  be  repeated,  for  it  is  so  easy 
to  select  a  fresh  one  for  each  space. 

Personally,  I  like  the  introduction  of  animal  forms  in 
carving  :  I  prefer  them,  indeed,  to  the  human  figure,  because 
too  often  the  latter  is  so  badly  done — an  insult  to  man,  in 
fact.  Gibbons  and  his  contemporaries  were  fond  of  intro- 
ducing angels'  heads,  and  very  beautifully  they  carved  them. 


Sb  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

Those  on  the  choir  stalls  at  Cockayne  Hatley  Church, 
No.  15,  are  exquisitely  wrought,  though  the  drawing  only 
indicates  the  main  features  of  the  carving.  The  treatment 
of  the  wings  is  particularly  happy,  and  might,  to  a  skilful 
carver,  suggest  a  treatment  of  chair  arms. 


No.  22.—  Picture  Frame  after  the  style  of  Grinling  Gibbons. 
Early  Eighteenth  Century. 

My  advice  to  amateurs  is,  don't  attempt  the  human  figure 
unless  you  feel  up  to  it ;  keep  to  foliage  and  ornament  until 
you  can  venture  on  an  animal  form,  and  then  if  you  feel 
confident  in  your  powers  essay  a  child's  head,  and  then  be 


WOOD    CARVING.  37 

sure  and  make  a  few  studies  from  a  living  child.  One 
sculptor  I  know  finds  photographs  of  children  very  useful 
in  modelHng  heads.  I  should  say  that  Reynolds'  "  AngeJs' 
Heads  "  in  the  National  Gallery,  and,  indeed,  his  children 
generally,  would  be  still  more  helpful,  as  the  painter  has 
simplified  nature  in  his  paintings,  which  would  be  a  distinct 
help  to  the  carver,  for  your  carved  head  should  be  the 
antithesis  of  a  wax  doll,  which  attempts  to  give  a  counter- 
feit or  imitation  of  nature.  You  are  carving  a  piece  of 
wo  3d  shaped  like  a  head,  and  this  needs  treatment,  or  how 
are  you  going  to  render  the  hair  ?  for  this  cannot  be  imitated 
any  more  than  the  eyes  can.  It  is  the  old  story  of  knowing 
what  to  leave  out  or  throw  away  ;  it  means  restraint,  selec- 
tion, power  to  seize  on  essentials,  and  ignore  that  which  is 
accidental. 

In  carving  animal  forms,  one  of  the  great  difficulties  is  in 
knowing  how  to  render  textures.  Hair,  feathers,  scales  are 
not  to  be  copied,  you  have  to  translate  them  into  the 
language  of  wood.  I  thought  it  might  be  a  little  help  to 
show  how  the  Japanese  carve  such  forms  as  wings,  and  in 
No.  16  will  be  seen  some  adaptations  of  Japanese  work.  A 
wing,  when  we  analyse  its  structure,  becomes  a  very  ornamental 
form,  and,  if  so  looked  at,  may  be  an  interesting  feature  in 
carving.  It  is  a  good  general  principle  to  direct  the  student 
to  develop  all  ornamental  suggestions  wherever  found. 
The  hair  of  a  child's  head  must  be  thought  of  as  a  series  of 
curved  forms,  and  not  as  so  many  hairs.  A  wing,  again, 
is  an  arrangement  of  feathers,  and  not  a  fluffy  bewildering 
mass  of  down.  Hair,  again,  must  be  indicated  where  we 
should  put  a  little  shadow  if  we  were  drawing  the  object, 
and  not  by  roughing  the  surface  all  over  with  lines. 


38 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


Bul  when  all  is  said,  rendering  surfaces  is  a  difficulty 
which  can  only  be  overcome  by  considerable  practice 
directed  by  a  sense  of  fitness,  which  is  what  taste  in 
wood  carving  amounts  to.  Just  as  the  artist  learns  what 
to  leave  out,  so  the  carver  has  to  learn  how  he  best  can 


No.  23. — Tuscan  Mirror  Frame.  Sixteenth  Century.  The  festoon 
border  is  characteristic  of  the  time,  but  it  has  become,  b)'  much 
repetition,  a  trifle  tiresome. 


translate  what  he  knows  into  the  language  of  his  craft. 
That  this  is  not  done  by  imitation  is  about  the  most  definite 
counsel  one  can  give,  though  it  may  be  a  great  help  to  one, 
in  difficulties,  to  go  and  see  how  some  one  else  has  worked, 
either  to  know  what  to  avoid  or  what  to  do. 
If  we  train  our  artistic  perception  everything  in  time  can 


WOOD    CARVING.  39 

be  seen  ornamentally.  In  the  fish-panel,  No.  19,  the 
Japanese  treatment  of  curling  water  has  been  followed, 
while  the  fish  itself  (the  gurnard)  has  been  made  so  orna- 
mental by  nature,  that  little  was  required  to  fit  it  for  a 
carved  panel.  When  you  do  introduce  birds  or  other 
animal  forms  into  your  work,  avoid  getting  them  too  pretty, 
as  though  they  were  Christmas  cards.  The  quaint  and 
grotesque  is  so  much  more  effective  in  carving  than  the 
pretty-pretty.  I  would  sooner  have  ugly  carving  than 
genteel.  The  mediaeval  monster  turned  into  a  water- 
spout is  much  more  attractive  to  many  than  a  wax  doll, 
however  beautifully  modelled  and  coloured  the  latter  may 
be.  Let  us  get  a  little  of  the  savage  into  our  work  rather 
than  too  much  refinement — at  least,  that  is  my  taste.  The 
specimens  of  Norwegian  work,  Nos.  17  and  18,  are  worth 
studying  in  this  connection  as  its  archaicness  gives  it 
character ;  moreover,  the  wood  is  admirably  treated,  just  so 
much  being  done  as  gives  the  surface  interest  and  no 
more. 

In  sketching  out  a  design,  work  full  size  on  brown  paper 
in  charcoal,  using  it  freely  and  seeing  that  the  principal 
lines  are  happily  placed,  that  the  curves  flow  easily  and  are 
not  broken-backed,  and  then  you  can  begin  placing  the 
important  details,  afterwards  adding  the  minor  ones.  The 
use  of  white  chalk  will  enable  you  to  get  the  appearance  of 
roundness,  and  you  can  gauge  to  some  extent  the  effect  of 
your  work.  I  say  to  some  extent,  for  no  drawing  can 
render  the  effect  of  carving,  and  I  have  made  no  attempt 
to  get  this  quality  into  my  sketches,  as  I  wanted  them  to 
be  as  plain  as  diagrams,  so  that  the  reader  can  see  the 
details. 


40 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


One  well-known  carver  told  me  that  he  finds  his  men- 
work  better  from  rough  charcoal  sketches  than  from  modelled 
patterns,  as  the  cartoon  does  not  trammel  them  as  modelled 

sketches  do ;  beside?,, 
while  you  are  model- 
ling your  patterns  you 
could  half  carve 
them,  and  to  save 
time  is  surely  an  ob- 
ject with  amateurs. 

In  planning  a  large 
work  such  as  a  man- 
tel-piece don't  think 
of  details  until  your 
spaces  have  been  di- 
vided up  and  the 
constructive  lines  and 
forms  arranged  for. 
Referring  once  more 
to  No.  14,  it  will  be 
seen  that,  there  being 
a  shelf  to  support,  it 
was  of  the  first  im- 
portance to  see  that 
our  sense  of  security 
was  satisfied,  and  to 
that  end  the  tops  of 
the  side  panels,  equi- 
valent to  the  capitals  of  a  pillar,  were  in  higher  relief  than  the 
rest,  and  after  that  the  minor  supports  to  the  shelves,  which 
also  serve  to  break  up  the  top  of  the  mantel  into  panels  or 


No.  24. — Gothic  Pane], 

(Mr.  W   H.  Grim  wood.) 


WOOD   CARVING,  41 

spaces.  Having  settled  all  these  main  features,  it  is,  com- 
paratively speaking,  an  easy  business  to  arrange  the  details. 
Take  the  chest  No.  2,  or  the  seat  No.  5,  in  Chapter  I., 
and  if  we  analyse  these  designs  we  see  that  the  surfaces 
are  divided  up  geometrically,  and  then  the  spaces  are  treated 
with  appropriate  ornament.  If  one  ventured  to  criticise 
these  two  works  one  might  urge  that  the  borders  on  the 
styles  around  the  panels  in  No.  5  should  have  been  some- 
what severer  in  character,  so  as  to  have  competed  less  with 
the  panels,  for  it  is  obviously  a  mistake  to  decorate  every 
part  of  one's  work  equally.  Relief  and  breadth  of  effect 
can  only  be  obtained  by  leaving  some  spaces  plainer  than 
others,  while  in  No.  2  the  filling  of  the  two  panels,  instead 
of  being  quite  so  severe,  might  have  suggested  natural 
growth,  seeing  that  the  niches  are  so  architectural. 

Those  taking  up  carving  should  equip  themselves  with 
some  good  chisels  and  gouges,  and  an  appliance  for  holding 
the  wood  while  it  is  being  worked,  for  no  successful  carving 
can  be  done  without  attention  being  paid  to  the  mechani- 
cal side  of  one's  work,  and  unless  the  wood  one  is  working 
can  be  properly  secured  so  thai  it  is  rigid  there  can  be  no 
certainty  of  touch,  no  sharpness  and  precision  of  execution, 
upon  which  so  much  of  the  quality  of  carving  depends. 
Such  a  panel  as  No.  6,  in  Chapter  I.,  or  No.  24  are 
good  designs  to  carve  after  some  preliminary  work  has 
been  undertaken,  for  it  requires  some  practice  to  carve 
scrolls  and  curves  with  feeling.  Much  of  the  work  on  the 
coffer.  No.  2,  could  be  more  easily  wrought  by  a  beginner, 
as  a  purely  symmetrical  or  geometrical  pattern  presents 
fewer  difficulties  than  a  flowing  design  like  No.  24.  When 
we  come  to  such  a  design  as  the  mirror  frame.  No.  25,  we 


42 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


are  getting  into  difficulties,  and  it  is  not  wise  to  be  foolishly 
ambitiouSjTail,  and  so  be  discouraged  :  far  better  gain  cour- 
age by  small  successes.  Much  that  is  interesting  to  do  and 
valued  when  done  can  be  accomplished  by  amateurs  after 
getting  used  to  their  tools,  and  acquiring  some  command 

over  them,  and  with  the 
variety  and  wealth  of  ex- 
amples scattered  through 
these  pages,  amateurs 
ought  not  to  be  at  a  loss 
in  knowing  what  they  shall 
do. 

In  No.  20,  I  give 
a  treatment  of  a  bellows 
front  with  a  head  blow- 
ing, as  this  suggests  the 
purpose  of  the  article 
carved.  The  carving  is 
intended  to  be  in  half 
relief,  so  as  to  allow  of 
some  undercutting.  The 
highest  part  of  the  orna- 
mental wings  would  be  in 
the  same  plane  as  the  nose 
of  the  head,  while  the 
wood  around  the  head 
being  cut  away  would  give  a  depth  of  shadow  which 
would  greatly  enhance  the  effect.  Carving  in  high  relief 
depends  upon  the  masses  of  shadow — you  have  to  think 
in  light  and  shade.  Tn  No.  21  is  another  bellows  front 
treated  with  a  quaint  rendering  of  an   owl,  to  be   carved 


No.  25. — Venetian  Mirror  Frame. 
Sixteenth  Century.  This  being 
in  high  rehef  should  not  be  at- 
tempted until  the  craftsman  has 
had  considerable  practice  in 
simpler  work. 


WOOD   CARVING.  43 

in  high  reUef.  Such  a  work  would  be  a  good  preparatory 
study  to  a  head,  so  far  as  manipulative  skill  goes,  for  it  is 
obvious  that  the  further  from  the  flat  we  get  in  carving, 
and  the  more  our  work  approaches  the  round,  the  more 
difficult  is  it  to  carve.  Here  some  preliminary  work  in 
modelling  in  clay  would  be  found  helpful. 

As  regards  wood,  oak,  of  course,  is  the  most  popular,  and 
for  such  articles  as  brackets  and  fire-places  very  suitable. 
It  is  a  good  wood  to  carve.  Lime  and  sycamore  were  used 
by  Gibbons  for  his  light  work:  such  a  frame  as  No.  22, 
which  is  light  and  graceful,  even  fanciful  in  design,  would 
probably  have  been  carved  in  one  of  these  woods.  Cedar 
and  mahogany  cut  well,  and  for  frames  to  be  gilded,  good 
pine,  free  from  knots,  is  excellent,  as  it  can  be  carved  with 
rapidity  when  one  has  acquired  some  command  of  one's 
tools.  Such  a  design  as  No.  23,  which  is  adapted  for 
gilding,  should  be  wrought  in  pine  or  other  free  cutting 
wood. 


CHAPTER   III. 

BEATEN    METALWORK   OR   REPOUSSE. 

HERE  is  no  more  fascinating  craft  the 
amateur  can  take  up  than  work  in 
beaten  metal.  Metal  seems  to  give  a 
distinction  to  a  design,  however  poor 
in  itself  it  may  be.  Just  as  a  bitten  c  r 
engraved  line  on  copper  has,  when 
printed  from,  a  quality  about  it  which 
a  line  produced  by  any  other  means  lacks,  so  a  pattern 
produced  by  the  beating  up  and  hammering  of  metal  has  a 
"  preciousness  "  which  gives  it  an  unique  value,  and  makes 
the  work  itself  of  absorbing  interest.  So  delightful  is  the 
surface  produced  by  hammering,  whether  it  be  silver, 
copper,  brass,  pewter  or  steel  which  we  work  in,  that  there 
is  a  danger  of  the  craftsman  being  indifferent  as  to  the 
design  he  beats  out,  because  anything  looks  fairly  well 
when  wrought  in  repousse.  We  might  paraphrase  that 
couplet  of  Longfellow's — "  Lend  to  the  words  of  the  poet 
the  music  of  thy  voice,"  lend  to  the  skill  and  tasteful  inge- 
nuity of  the  designer  the  "  preciousness  "  of  beaten  metal. 

An  appropriate  design  is  one  in  which  the  peculiar 
qualities  of  beaten  metal  are  brought  into  well-considered 
prominence,  for  a  design  should  always  be  conditioned  by 
the  method  of  reproduction.  Now,  in  repousse  we  produce 
the  design  partly  by  beating  out  from  the  back  and  partly 
by  work  from  the  front.     One  can,  for  instance,  start  by 


BEATEN   METAL  WORK    OR    REPOUSSE. 


45 


outlining  the  design  by  punching  from  the  front,  and  having 
done  this,  bed  the  metal  in  pitch,  and  beat  up  some  portions 
of  the  design  from  the  back,  so  as  to  obtain  more  or  less 
relief.  The  amount  of  reHef  depends  upon  the  amount  of 
beating,  for  it  is  possible  to  hammer  up  copper  into  con- 
siderable relief — from  half-an-inch  to  an  inch  from  the  flat 


No.  26. — Original  Design  for  Tray  or  Plaque,  suggested  by  Lniuiu 
Speciosum.  The  foliage  in  low  relief,  while  the  flowers  are 
intended  to  be  beaten  up.  The  leaves  might  be  merely  out- 
lined, and  the  basket-work  background  punched  on. 

is  possible,  but  there  is  always  the  danger  of  breaking 
through  the  metal  when  you  beat  it  up  to  this  extent.  The 
design  can  swell  out  and  retire  (one  might  liken  it  to  the  ebb 
and  flow  of  the  sea),  find  itself  and  lose  itself,  and  by  thus 
judiciously  beating  up  the  metal  we  give  it  variety  and 
accent.     We  must  exercise  selection  in  settling  what  part 


46 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


of  our  scheme  we  beat  up  in  high  relief,  for  the  effect  of  a 
completed  work  largely  depends  upon  the  way  we  leave 
some  portions  in  very  low  relief,  while  we  bring  out  others, 
and  to  one  or  two  features  in  our  design  we  give  consider- 
able prominence  by  beating  up  into  still  higher  relief.     In 


No.  27.—  Original  Design  for  Tray.     The  foliage  to  be  in  very  low  relief, 
while  the  frog,  chameleon  and  insects  can  be  in  higher  relief. 

No.  26,  for  instance,  the  leaves  should  be  only  just  beaten 
up,  and  where  one  leaf  comes  behind  another  it  need  only 
be  outlined,  or  at  all  events  kept  lower  than  those  in  front. 
The  petals  of  the  flowers  nearest  the  centre  might  be  in  fuller 
relief,  while  the  stamens  are  only  punched  in  on  the  front. 


BEATEN  METALWORK  OR   REPOUSSE. 


The  animal  forms  in  No.  27  need  be  the  only  ones  in 
anything  like  relief. 

In  the  copper  panel  No.  28  the  reHef  is 
pretty  much  the  same  all  over,  and  such  a 
design  would  be  a  very  suitable  one  for  a 
beginner  to  beat  up,  a  flat  panel  being 
much  more  easily  manipulated  than  a  pot 
or  cup  such  as  No.  29,  which  is  a  very 
good  instance  of  a  repeating  geometrical 
design  being  employed  in  the  decora- 
tion of  a  round  surface. 

The  other  example  of  work  wrought  by 
the  Yattenden  class,  which  has  made  a 
speciality  of  copper  repousse',  No.  3,  chap. 
I.,  is  suggestive  in  treatment.  Here  we 
have  a  certain  barbaric  rudeness  which, 
if  not  overdone,  is  very  effective. 
We  must  avoid  covering  the  whole  surface  with  work 

of    the    same 

character.      Do 

not  be  afraid  of 

*'  spaces  to  let." 

All    work     de- 
pends for  its  effect 

uponrelief;aplain 

space      should 

follow  a  busy  one, 

one  in  low  relief  a 

portion     in    high 

relief      Then   the      ^,  ^   ,        ,  ^  .  r       1 

No,  29. — Embossed  Copper  Mug,  the  work 

S  U  r  f a  C  e      itself,  ,  of  the  Yattenden  Class . 


No.  28. — Embossed 
Copper  Panel, 
the  work  of  the 
Yattenden  Class. 


48 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


produced  by  hammering,  should  be  valued.     If  we  examine 
a  piece  of  nicely  wrought  metal  we  find  that  the  hammer 


]s4^o_  ^o. — Original  Design  for  Hanging  Candle-holder  with  either  a 
min  or  or  plain  metal  in  centre.  The  stars  and  rays  in  very  low 
relief,  while  the  sunflower  and  bat  should  be  in  higher  relief. 

marks  produce  a  series  of  facets  which  alone  gives  the  metal 
a  "  preciousness,"  and  in  silver  such  a  surface  is  far  more 


BEATEN  METALWORK  OR   REPOUSSE, 


49 


beautiful   than   highly  polished   plate.      Yet  this  surface, 
frosted  in  appearance,  which  we  obtain  by  beating  silver, 


No.  31.— Original  Design  for  Candle-holder  with  mirror  or  plain 
metal  in  centre.  The  stars  and  leaves  in  low  relief,  while  the 
flowers  and  owl  in  higher  relief. 


is  only  just  beginning  to  be  valued,  so  used  have  we  become 
to  the  highly  polished  plate  of  commerce. 

The  best  metal  to  beat  is  copper,  as  it  is  very  tough  and 

E 


so 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


elastic.  Brass  is  harder,  and  therefore  more  brittle.  Silver 
is  pleasanter  than  brass  to  work  in,  but  more  brittle  than 
copper.  Steel  is  used,  and  Mr.  Fisher  worked  a  chatelaine 
belt  in  it  which  is  given  elsewhere.  Pewter  was  frequently 
used  by  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  century  craftsmen, 
and  Mr.  Ashbee  has  used  pewter  very  effectively  for  electro- 


•N 

V 

■  '^\ 

'^ 

::^,/ 

>\ 

No.  32. — Mirror  Frame  in  Repousse  Copper.  The  design  is  beaten 
in,  the  reverse  of  the  majoiity  of  examples  given.  (Fivemiletown, 
Co.  Tyrone.) 


Hers.  It  is  softer  than  copper,  and  can  be  beaten  easily. 
Old  pewter  plates  beat  up  very  well,  and  as  they  are  to  be 
picked  up  reasonably  they  should  be  tried.  I  have  seen 
some  wrought  by  Mr.  Gilbert  Marks  which  were  very 
effective.  No.  46  is  a  good  example  of  beaten  pewter. 
There  is  a  method  of  eating  away  a  portion  of  the  copper 


BEATEN  METALWORK  OR   REPOUSSE, 


51 


with  nitric  acid  and  either  leaving  the  parts  not  acided,  or 
beating  them  up  slightly  so  as  to  give  them  further  relief. 
The  edges  of  the  design  left  in  relief  by  the  acid  should  be 
punched  round,  so  as  to  mark  it  through  at  the  back,  and 
this  alone  gives  further  relief  to  the  pattern.  You  might 
transfer  your  design  to  the  metal  and  then  paint  over  with 
Brunswick  black  the  portions  not  to  be  eaten  away.  When 
this  is  quite  hard,  pour  the  acid  upon  it.  If  it  were  a  tray,  then 
you  have  only  to 
cover  the  sides 
with  black  and 
pour  in  the  acid. 
If  it  be  a  flat  sur- 
face, then  you 
must  make  a  para- 
pet of  wax,  to  keep 
in  the  acid.  Pure 
nitric  acid  works 
quickly  and  you 
had  better  perform 
the  operation  out 
of  doors,  as  the 
fumes  are  very  objectionable.  You  must  also  see  that 
you  have  well  covered  your  copper  with  the  Brunswick 
black,  as  the  acid  will  eat  its  way  through  any  pinhole  that 
may  be  left,  and  this  the  acid  will  soon  enlarge.  If  you  find 
the  acid  attacking  any  part  you  do  not  wish  acided,  pour  it 
off  into  the  bottle,  wash  well  with  warm  water,  and  when 
•dry  touch  in  the  places  with  black.  In  cold  weather  the 
action  of  the  acid  is  quickened  by  warming  the  metal.  As 
for  the  length  of  time  the  acid  must  remain  on,  nothing  very 


No.  33. — Heraldic  Beast. 


52 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


definite  can  be  said.    When  the  acid  is  new  it  works  quicker 
than  if  it  had  been  used  before.     From  a-quarter  to  half- 

an-hour  would 
produce  a  very- 
decided  result. 
The  surface  given 
by  the  acid  is  a 
broken  one,  but 
not  unpleasant. 

Nos.  26  and 
27  might  be 
largely  wrought 
by  adding  away 
the  backgrounds. 
In  the  second 
design  the  whole 
of  the  back- 
ground could  be 
removed  to  a 
certain  depth  by 
the  acid,  and 
then  the  surface 
covered  with 
stopping-out  var- 
nish— such  as  is 
sold  by  Mr. 
Rhind  for  etchers 
— and  the  spider- 
web  marked  out 
on  this  ground  with  a  sharp  instrument  and  further  acided. 
The  frog,  chameleon,  and  insects  could  then  be  beaten  up 


No.  34. — Heraldic  Dragon,  suggested  by  the 
Sixteenth-century  Renaissance,  in  which 
the  blending  of  animal  or  human  form 
with  ornameDt  is  often  met  with. 


BEATEN  METALWORK  OR   REPOUSSE. 


53 


and  wrought  in  repousse, 
as  could  the  fohage, 
though  I  should  say  it 
would  do  merely  to 
hammer  an  outline 
round  the  edges,  leaving 
the  foHage  just  in  the 
relief  obtained  by  the 
acid;  but  these  and 
other  considerations 
must  be  thought  out  by 
the  worker  for  himself. 

In  No.  26  either  the 
basket-work  background 
could  be  eaten  in,  and 
then  the  design  beaten 
up  —  particularly  the 
flowers  at  the  corners — 
or  the  whole  of  the  back- 
ground could  be  eaten 
away  and  then  the  work 
covered  with  stopping-, 
out  varnish,  the  basket- 
work  scratched  aw  ay  on 
this  and  bitten  in. 

-^<^-  35- — Original  Design  for 
a  Panel  fur  Side  of  Fire- 
place or  other  purpose, 
treated  with  a  decorative 
rendering  of  sea-weed, 
sea-horses,  fish  and  shell. 
The  wavy  lines  in  back- 
ground can  be  punched 
in,  bitten  in  with  acid,  or 
omitted. 


54 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


The  acid  has  a  tendency  to  eat  its  way  into  the  edges  of 
the  design,  so  it  is  as  well  to  paint  your  black  a  little  beyond 
the  edges  of  the  pattern  to  allow  for  this.  Etching  on  metal 
might  be  developed  by  an  ingenious  amateur.  You  could 
cover  your  metal  with  a  soft  wax  ground  similar  to  that 
used  by  etchers,  and  then  by  scratching  this  away  with  a 


No.  36. — Original  Design  for  Repousse  Dish  suggested  by  the 
Sunflower.  If  desired,  the  leaves,  which  come  outside  the  circle, 
can  be  modified  so  as  to  come  within  the  circumference.  The 
flower  forms  the  hollow  of  the  dish,  the  centre  having  holes 
punched  in  from  the  front. 

fine  bradawl  or  other  tool,  and  applying  acid,  you  can  eat 
in  the  lines  so  scratched  away.  Afterwards  you  can  beat  up 
some  portions  from  the  back.  The  tool  you  use  to  scratch 
away  the  ground  should  not  be  too  fine,  as  your  lines  want 
to  be  coarse  enough  to  tell  at  a  distance. 


BEATEN  METAL  IVOR K  OR   REfOUSSE.  55 

Artistic  results  are  obtainable  by  very  simple  means  and 
the  very  restraint  exercised  in  good  work  gives  it  its  charm. 
It  is  much  harder  to  restrain  oneself  than  let  oneself  go,  and 
the  tyro  should  always  be  on  his  guard  that  his  love  of 
beating  up  the  metal  does  not  run  away  with  him.  I  saw  a 
copper  tray  at  an  exhibition  in  which  the  design,  consisting 


No.  37. — Original  Design  for  either  a  Dish  or  Wall  Sconce  to  hold  two 
candles.  The  dish  is  intended  to  be  concave,  and  a  quaint  ren- 
dering of  the  eared  owl  wrought  into  it. 


of  a  decorative  treatment  of  foliage,  was  kept  just  in  very 
low  relief  and  flat  in  character,  while  the  background  was 
punched  over  with  basket-work  in  the  style  of  No.  26. 
Flat  work  of  this  nature,  suitable  for  trays,  doorplates,  &c., 
should  engage  the  beginner's  attention  before  going  on  10 
dishes,  and  other  articles  which  require  much  beating,  for 


5^ 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


it  is  obvious  that  the  further  removed  our  work  is  from  the 
flat  metal  the  greater  the  skill  and  knowledge  required  to 
treat  it  successfully. 

Sconces  or  candle-holders  are  capital  articles  to  engage 


No.  38. — Rose-Water  Dish  in  Repousse  Copper.     Chiswick  School 
cf  Arts  and  Crafts. 


the  tyro's  attention  when  he  has  mastered  the  rudiments  of 
the  craft.  I  give  in  Nos.  30  and  31  suggestions  for  two 
candle-holders  for  hanging  on  the  walls.  In  both  cases  the 
centres  could  either  be  flat  metal  or  mirrors.    The  stars  and 


BEATEN  METALWORK  OR   REPOUSSE. 


57 


rays  in  No.  30  are  to  be  in  very  low  relief.  The  bat  might 
be  beaten  up  a  little  further,  while  the  sunflower  could  be  in 
fuller  relief,  and  in  the  centre  the  sockets  to  hold  the  candle- 


No.  39. — Design  for  Dish,  treated  with  a  decorative  airangement  of 
the  Opium  Poppy.  The  edge  is  shown  pierced,  but  if  desired  it 
can  be  wrought  with  a  plain  edge  so  as  to  avoid  the  cutting  out  of 
the  edges. 


Sticks  must  be  brazed  on.  The  candle-holders  themselves 
could  be  beaten  out  by  those  skilful  enough  to  undertake 
such  work,  or  you  could  get  them  cast  for  you  by  a  brass 
worker.     No.  3 1  presents  no  special  difficulty.     The  leaves 


58  ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS, 

should  be  in  lower  relief  than  the  flowers,  while  the  stars 
should  be  no  more  than  just  seen.  The  owl  in  the  moon  at 
the  top  could  be  beaten  up  further,  so  as  to  make  it  a 
distinctive  feature  in  the  sconce.  The  outside  edges  of 
these  candle-holders  should  be  beaten  into  rounded  rims,  as 
it  would  give  a  work  a  very  papery  and  thin  appearance  to 
end  with  just  the  edge  of  the  flat  metal. 

The  two  mirror  frames  from  Ireland,  No.  i,  chap,  i,  and 
No.  32,  are  articles  that  might  be  undertaken  after  a  little 
practice,  though  the  amateur  cannot  expect  to  get  the  finish 
and  character  of  the  work  of  this  very  successful  village 
class.  No.  32  is  beaten  in  instead  of  out,  and  to  my 
thinking  is  far  less  effective  than  work  in  reHef,  such  as 
No.  I,  the  design  of  which  pleasantly  occupies  the  space, 
is  well  balanced,  and  possesses  a  decorative  fitness  which  is 
far  to  be  preferred  to  mere  naturalness. 

Quaint  renderings  of  animals  look  very  effective  in 
repousse',  and  the  reader  will  gather  from  the  designs 
accompanying  these  notes  that  I  have  a  penchant  for  the 
quaint  and  grotesque.  A  touch  of  the  savage  or  barbaric 
certainly  seems  to  me  to  suit  repousse.  The  heraldic  treat- 
ment of  animal  forms,  as  instanced  in  Nos.  33  and  34, 
can  be  most  effectively  rendered  in  beaten  metal. 

A  fireplace  I  saw  in  a  house  was  decorated  with  a 
number  of  copper  panels,  about  six  inches  square,  put 
together  like  tiles  to  cover  the  lower  part  of  the  chimney 
breast.  Some  of  these  squares  had  quaint  animals  wrought 
on  them,  while  others  were  plain  hammered  metal,  and  a 
very  striking  feature  in  the  room  was  this  hammered  copper. 
No.  34  was  suggested  by  sixteenth-century  Renaissance,  the 
blending   of    animal   forms   with   ornament   being   a  very 


BEATEN  METAL  WORK  OR  REPOUSSE. 


59 


noticeable  feature  of  such  work.  The  reader  can  obtain 
many  suggestions  from  old  work  which  he  can  adapt  to  his 
special  requirernents. 

I  confess  I  am  more  at  home  on  such  a  design  as  No.  35, 
in  which  nature  is  only  simplified  and  arranged  to  suit  the 


No.  40. — Design  for  Repousse  Bowl,  with  a  decorative  rendering  of 
the  Ragged  Tulip.  The  frog  and  snail  are  introduced  to  give 
variety  to  the  design.  The  base  to  have  a  border  of  butterflies 
ornamentally  treated. 


space  to  be  covered.  This  class  of  design  would  appear  to 
me  to  be  more  within  the  scope  of  the  amateur,  as  the 
material  can  be  found  in  museums  and  books  on  natural 
history  and  botany,  while  considerable  scope  is  left  for  the 
individual  to  express  himself.     On  the  other  hand,  the  work 


! 


6o 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


known  as  '^  Renaissance  "  does  not  leave  one  much  liberty 
of  action.  It  is  a  mine  that  has  been  very  thoroughly 
worked  in  the  past,  and,  for  myself,  I  feel  so  trammelled 
and  bounded  by  precedent  that  my  volition  almost  deserts 
me.     It  is  like  attempting  to  breathe  the  air  of  a  hot  orchid 


No.  41.— Bowl  in  beaten  Silver  with  naturalesque  design  of  Daffodils, 
by  Mr.  Gilbert  Marks. 


house;  I  prefer  the  more  bracing  air  outside.  This 
constant  working  upon  past  models,  without  reference  to 
nature,  ends  in  such  art  as  we  contemptuously  term  "early 
Victorian."  This  inspiration  by  precedent  seems  to  lead 
to  utter   stagnation ;  then  is  the  time  to  go   to  the  well- 


BE  A  TEN  ME  TAL  WORK  OR .  REPO  USSE.  6  r 

spring  of  all  art,  Nature,  for  refreshment.  Coming  back  to 
the  design  No.  35,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  forms  used  are 
very  familiar  ones,  the  sea-horse  (an  animal  made  for  the 
ornamentalist),  the  gurnard,  a  fish  which  nature  has 
ornamentalised  for  one,  and  the  seaweed  with  hollow 
vessels  to  keep  the  weed  afloat.  Such  a  plant  is  obviously 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  craft,  and  to  make  it  growing 
out  of  a  shell  is  a  perfectly  natural  conceit,  as  well  as  giving 
another  object  of  interest  to  the  panel.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  that  the  seaweed  should  be  kept  in  very 
low  rehef — barely  seen  in  those  parts  where  it  comes  against 
a  more  prominent  form.  The  wavy  lines  in  the  back- 
ground can  be  punched  on,  acided  in,  or,  if  thought  de  trop^ 
they  can  be  left  out. 

Coming  to  dishes,  we  have  a  simple  treatment  in  No.  36, 
suggested  by  our  old  friend  of  decorative  art,  the  sunflower. 
To  give  a  little  variety  I  have  carried  the  leaves  beyond  the 
outer  rim,  which  would,  of  course,  necessitate  the  cutting 
away  of  pieces  all  round.  If  that  is  considered  inexpedient, 
the  leaves  can  easily  be  brought  within  the  circumference  ot 
the  circle.  The  centre  part  of  the  dish  constitutes  the 
flower,  the  petals  of  which  are  intended  to  be  wrought 
around  the  sides.  The  centre  of  the  dish  could  have  a 
number  of  small  dots  punched  into  the  copper  with  a  steel 
punch.  Punches  of  various  designs  are  often  used  in 
metal  work,  especially  in  backgrounds.  I  believe  some 
purists  object  to  their  use;  but  I  am  no  purist  in  this  sense, 
and  to  trammel  oneself  needlessly  is  the  way  to  court  defeat. 
I  can  quite  think,  however,  that  such  punches  can  be  mis- 
used. They  were  frequently  employed  by  the  workers  of 
the  past,  if  that  be  any  warranty  for  using  them  now.     The 


62 


ART  CRAFIS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


Other  dish,  No.  37,  I  have  adapted  for  the  purpose  of  a 
sconce.  The  whole  dish  is  intended  to  be  concave,  and 
the  designs  just  brought  out,  giving  the  head  of  the  owl 
chief  prominence.  There  is  no  reason  why  this  should  not 
be  made  into  a  dish  by  leaving  out  the  candle-supports. 

In  No.  38  we  have  an  excellent  example  of  the  work  of 
the  Chiswick  craftsmen.     The  design  is  pleasantly  simple,  a 


No.  42. —  Plate  and  Goblet  in  beaten  Silver,  exhibited  at  the  Paris 
P^xhibition  by  Jules  Brateau. . 


decorative  treatment  of  leaves,  and  were  it  merely  drawn  on 
paper  would  seem  of  small  worth,  but  the  beating  up  of  the 
rim  and  the  centre,  as  well  as  the  ornament  itself,  makes  the 
dish  a  valued  possession.  Jt  is  hardly  necessary  to  say 
that  the  beating  up  of  the  rim  and  centre  must  precede  the 
working  of  the  ornament. 


BEATEN  METALWORK  OR   REPOUSSE.  63 

The  dish,  No.  39,  and  the  bowl,  No.  40,  were  suggested 
by  the  work  of  Mr.  Gilbert  Marks,  whose  beaten  silver  has 
recently  given  him  a  deservedly  high  place  in  this  craft.  An 
example  of  his  work  is  to  be  seen  in  No.  41.  The  poppy 
is  a  very  favourite  form  with  designers,  for  both  leaf  and 
flower  are  beautiful,  and  full  of  decorative  suggestions  and 
possibilities.  The  amount  of  ornamentising  that  has  been 
done  is  to  arrange  the  flowers  and  leaves  alternately  and  in 
a  wave-like  line,  and  to  simplify  both,  omitting  what  is 
merely  accidental  and  retaining  what  is  characteristic.  Such 
designs  as  these  should  be  drawn  in  free-hand,  so  that 
though  a  general  symmetry  and  balance  is  preserved,  no 
two  forms  are  quite  alike.  Repetition  is  quite  allowable 
where  the  form  repeated  is  highly  ornamental,  as  the  pome- 
granate, No.  I,  or  the  scroll  in  the  jug,  No.  29,  for  in  these 
cases  it  gives  character  to  the  work,  but  in  a  freer  treatment 
such  as  the  dish.  No.  39,  the  repetition  of  any  one  form  is 
to  be  avoided.  I  have  ventured  to  cut  out  the  edges  of  the 
dish,  following  the  forms.  It  would  be  more  trouble  than 
having  the  dish  circular,  but  I  fancy  the  effect  would  be 
rich — at  least,  I  see  no  objection  to  such  a  treatment,  on 
paper.  If  the  edges  were  cut  as  suggested  in  the  design,  it 
would  be  well  to  hammer  the  edges  so  as  to  curve  over,  and 
thus  avoid  the  sharp  edge  of  the  metal  being  seen. 

In  beating  out  a  bowl  from  the  flat  considerable  skill  is 
necessary,  quite  apart  from  that  required  in  beating  out  the 
pattern  on  it.  At  the  County  Council  School  in  Regent 
Street  a  test  of  skill  is  to  beat  out  what  is  known  as  a 
tomato-shaped  bowl.  Such  a  bowl  as  that  in  No.  40  would 
have  to  be  wrought  in  two  pieces,  the  bowl  proper  in  one, 
and  the  foot  or  stand  in  another,  and  then  brazed  together. 


64  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

The  tulip  (the  ragged  variety)  is  the  plant  used,  and  nature 
has  only  been  modified,  not  departed  from.  Skill  and  in- 
genuity can  be  shown  in  a  design  by  the  way  a  leaf  can  be 
made  to  wrap  around  or  go  at  the  back  of  another,  and  so 
bind  the  whole  design  together,  and  give  it  unity,  which  is 


f^   ENo.  43. — Original  Design  for  Plaque,  representing  'Night.' 
The  boy  carries  aloft  a  torch  of  stars  and  is  riding  upon  an  owl. 

strength  in  design  as  well  as  civil  life.  The  foreshortening 
of  forms  can  only  be  suggested,  and  a  certain  simplicity 
must  be  preserved  so  as  to  avoid  crowding  and  confusion. 
Have  a  few  well-defined  forms  and  give  prominence  to  parts 


BEATEN  METAL   WORK  OR    REPOUSSE. 


65 


of  the  design,  leaving  others  almost  to  lose  themselves. 
The  introduction  of  the  frog  and  snail  may  be  objected  to 
by  some.     I  am  not  sure  that  Mr.  Gilbert  Marks  would 


IS'o.  44. — Original  Design  for  Dish,  with  figure  of  Infant  Neptune  seated 
on  a  fish,  with  ornamental  treatment  of  waves  in  background. 


advocate  their  admission  into  the  design  ;  still  I  have  a 
feeling  that  the  scheme  is  made  more  interesting  as  well  as 
being  helped  by  the  introduction  of  animal  forms,  as  they 
can  be  made  a  feature  of  in  themselves  as  well  as  being  a  foil 

F 


66  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

to  the  plants.  The  border  of  butterflies  on  the  base  is 
better,  it  seems  to  me,  than  introducing  a  floral  border,  as 
we  then  confine  our  foliage  to  one  particular  part  of  the 
bowl.  Such  articles  as  large  bowls  and  coalscuttles  are 
very  pleasant  if  merely  beaten  into  shape.  It  would  cer- 
tainly be  good  practice  to  get  a  "  prentice  han' "  in  on  such 
works  as  these.  No.  42  is  an  example  of  modern  French 
beaten  silver,  and  was  in  the  Paris  Exhibition,  1900.  It 
shows  the  present  strong  *  naturalistic  '  tendency  in  France, 
which  is  a  wholesome  recoil  from  the  very  stereotyped  wit 
of  the  average  French  craftsmen. 

The  Dutch  were  fond  of  beating  up  figure  compositions, 
and  one  often  sees  plaques  treated  with  designs  after  Teniers 
and  Ostade.  I  have  made  a  couple  of  simple  designs,  Nos. 
43  and  44,  to  show  how  figures  may  be  treated  when 
wrought  in  beaten  metal.  It  is  surely  a  very  different  busi- 
ness modelling  figures  to  be  cast  in  bronze,  or  carved  in 
stone,  to  beating  up  a  dish  in  which  a  figure  is  introduced 
into  the  scheme  of  decoration.  A  pictorial  treatment  seems 
to  me  wrong,  and  the  beating  up  of  metal  after  a  picture  by 
Teniers,  and  that  on  a  circular  dish,  is  not  likely  to  lead  to 
so  effective  or  harmonious  a  result  as  where  the  figure  is 
schemed  out  and  made  to  take  its  place  in  the  design.  A 
fanciful  idea,  therefore,  as  the  young  Neptune  on  the  back 
of  a  fish  (No.  44),  or  the  one  of  Night  (No.  43),  where  the 
boy  carries  a  torch  of  stars,  appears  to  me  more  a  decora- 
tion than  a  man  smoking  a  pipe,  or  a  woman  feeding  swans, 
for  in  the  one  case  you  are  removed  from  the  actual,  and 
taken  into  the  world  of  the  imagination,  where  anything  is 
possible,  whereas  if  you  go  in  for  a  realistic  design,  the 
limitations  the  craft  imposes  on  you  are  chiefly  felt. 


BEATEN  METAL    WORK  OR  REPOUSSE.  67 

Those  who  have  only  beaten  copper  will  be  charmed  with 
silver  as  a  metal  to  work  in.  The  surface  of  beaten  silver 
is,  as  I  have  said,  most  beautiful,  and  the  same  design 
wrought  in  silver  will  present  a  very  different  appearance 
to  what  it  does  in  copper,  the  white  metal  giving  a  choice- 
ness  and  refinement  wanting  in  the  coarser  material. 


No.  45. — Salt  Cellar  and  Mustard  Pot  beaten  in  Silver  at  Essex 
House,  fiom  designs  by  Mr.  Ashbee. 


I  am  able  to  give  examples  of  wrought  silver  in  Nos.  41 
and  45,  but  several  other  of  the  designs  might  have  been 
beaten  in  silver. 

Essex  House  produces  some  characteristic  examples  of 
wrought  silver  and  the  two  examples  in  No.  45  are  certainly 


68  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

individual   in   design,  and  if  we   examine  the   details   of 
the   two   articles  we  see   that   the  motifs  are  remarkably 


No.  46. — Clock  wrought  in  Pewter  by  Jules  Brateau.      The  base  is  a 
Poppy  reversed,  all  the  details  being  symbolical. 

simple,  the  surface  of  the  metal  itself  playing  an  important 
part  in  the  effect.     Mr.  Gilbert  Marks'  bowl  is  conceived  in 


BEATEN  METAL   WORK  OR    REPOUSSE. 


69 


a  different  spirit,  and  the  design  is  more  naturalistic  than 
ornamental.  The  narcissus  lies  pleasantly  on  the  bowl  and 
breaks  up  the  surface  without  destroying  its  contour.     Most 


No.  47. — Cabinet  in  Wiouyhi  Iron.     Messrs.  T.  Potter  &  Sons. 

of  the  details  it  will  be  noticed  are  kept  in  very  low  relief,  the 
flowers  being  the  only  forms  accented  by  fuller  relief. 

The  clock,  No.  46,  was  also  shown  in  the  Paris  Exhibition, 


70  ART   CRAFTS   FOR   AMATEURS. 

and  was  wrought  in  pewter,  so  that  it  is  evident  any  class  of 
effect  can  be  beaten  out  of  this  metal. 

Sheet  silver  can  be  purchased  at  a  wholesale  jeweller's  or 
bullion  dealer's  at  about  2S.  6d.  an  ounce. 

Much  could  be  done  in  the  way  of  jewellery — the  beating 
out  of  waist  and  shoe  buckles,  hair  ornaments — especially  if 
heightened  by  the  addition  of  enamels,  and  in  the  chapter 
on  enamelling  I  have  directed  the  worker's  attention  to  this 
branch  of  metal  work. 

A  few  amateurs  have  taken  up  wrought  iron  with  success, 
and  there  is  no  great  difficulty  to  be  overcome  in  this  craft. 
Those  in  the  country  or  who  are  near  a  forge  can  always 
get  a  little  help  from  a  friendly  smith,  or  a  smith  made 
friendly  by  judicious  pour  boires,  and  before  setting  up 
an  anvil  and  small  forge  of  one's  own  one  could  get  one's 
hand  in  on  the  farrier's  anvil. 

There  was  a  time  when  a  village  smith  was  an  artist  and 
shaped  and  bent  his  iron  into  delightful  scrolls  and  curves, 
such  as  can  still  be  seen  on  old  sign-boards,  locks  and 
hinges,  but  now  beyond  a  certain  mechanical  dexterity  the 
artistic  aspirations  of  the  worker  in  iron  appear  to  be 
atrophied.  The  laudable  effort  to  restore  village  handicrafts 
by  the  Home  Arts  Association  and  other  agencies  will,  one 
hopes,  do  something  to  bring  back  some  of  the  tasteful 
hand-cunning  that  once  was  to  be  found  in  villages. 

Those  who  have  worked  in  wrought  iron  will  be  inter- 
ested in  the  cabinet  figured  in  No.  47,  which  is  made 
entirely  of  wrought  iron.  It  is  admirably  designed  to  show 
the  peculiar  beauty  of  bent  iron — the  deHghtful  curves  and 
scrolls  that  can  be  fashioned  when  the  iron  is  heated  so  that 
it  will  bend  readily. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CI.AY   MODKI/UNG  AND   METAL  WORK   IN 
RELIEF. 


3ST  boys  love  to  play  with  clay  and 
putty,  and  model  objects,  if  only 
coffins  and  skeletons,  in  these  yielding 
materials.  And  boys  of  larger  growth 
will  find  clay  modelling  a  ver}^  fas- 
cinating occupation.  When  staying  in 
a  village  some  years  ago  where  there 
was  a  tile  and  flower-pot  pottery,  I  obtained  some  clay 
and  modelled  some  articles,  which  I  afterwards  had  burnt 
into  terra  cotta,  and  as  many  readers  may  be  within  reach 
of  a  kiln  such  as  this,  I  will  give  them  the  results  of  my 
experience,  as  some  of  them  may  like  to  try  their  hand  at 
this  most  interesting  work. 

The  use  of  a  potter's  wheel  is  a  matter  requiring  some 
practice,  easy  as  it  is  to  use  by  those  who  have  had  an 
apprenticeship  to  it.  The  difficulty  is  to  keep  the  clay  on 
the  wheel  while  you  "  pull  it  up  "  and  manipulate  it  into  a 
vase  or  other  vessel.  But  the  amateur  need  not  wait  until 
he  can  "  throw  "  a  pot ;  for  a  few  pence  you  can  get  a 
potter  to  do  this,  and  your  work  can  be  to  decorate  it  with 


72 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


work  in  relief.  Or  you  can  start  with  a  drain-pipe  as  it 
comes  out  of  the  press,  and  by  pulling  out  the  top — making 
it  thinner  and  bending  it  over,  and  then  put  a  bottom  to  it 
with  feet,  as  shown  in  sketch  No.  48,  a  very  pleasant  shape 

is  obtained.  You 
can  then  decorate 
the  surface  with 
work  in  low  relief. 
I  found  it  a  good 
plan  to  model 
leaves,  etc.,  and 
then  stick  them  on 
the  vase,  carefully 
wetting  the  clay  to 
make  them  adhere. 
You  can,  in  fact, 
roll  out  your  clay 
thin,  hke  dough, 
and  take  an  actual 
leaf  and  shape  the 
clay  from  it,  or  you 
can  build  up  your 
design  straight 
away,  using  your 
fingers  to  fashion 
it,  for  it  is  a  good 
plan  to  thumb  the 
clay  well,  working  in  a  free  and  somewhat  rough  manner. 
Those  who  have  seen  a  sculptor  make  a  clay  sketch  will 
have  noticed  how  square  and  angular  he  works,  and  the 
amateur  should  bear  this  in  mind,  for  it  is  all  too  easy  to 


No.   48. — Vase  made  of  Drain  Pipe  ^Oiiia- 
mented  in  Relief  with  the  Bi amble. 


CLAY  MODELLING. 


73 


get  smoothness  and  so-called  finish  in  one's  work  ; 
difficulty  is  to  obtain  crispness,  vigour,  "go."  A 
wooden  modelling  tools,  and  one 
steel  one  with  a  wire  scraper  (all 
these  can  be  had  of  a  good  artists' 
colourman),  are  all  the  imple- 
ments necessary,  the  fingers  doing 
the  rest.  Throw  up  your  chief 
objects,  working  freely,  and  try 
to  avoid  thinking  of  obtaining 
finish  until  the  general  lines  of 
the  design  are  fixed,  and  the 
chief  masses  built  up.  The  dis- 
position must  be  resisted  of  tick- 
ling up  individual  forms;  this  can 
be  done  when  the  whole  of  your 
decorative  scheme  is  mapped  out 
on  the  vase.  But  don't  be  afraid 
of  a  certain  roughness,  for  you 
will  find  when  fired  your  crisp, 
angular  work  is  much  more 
effective  than  where  everything 
is  smoothed  away  like  a  wax  doll. 
You  can  break  up  the  surface 
of  the  vase  by  scratching  it  with 
the  point  of  a  tool  or  by  dotting 
it,  but  whether  this  should  be 
done  or  not  can  only  be  decided 
by  reference  to  the  particular  work 
in  hand.  All  one  can  say  is, 
don't  be   too  ''busy";    aim  at 


>1^ 


the 
few 


a, 


PM 


74 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


simplicity  rather  than  multiphcity,  a  few  well  placed  forms 
being  far  more  effective  than  a  mass  of  detail  bewildering  in 
its  complexity.  Be  careful  to  keep  a  wet  cloth  over  the  clay 
while  the  work  is  in  progress,  and  even  spray  it  over  with 
water  if  the  weather  is  hot  before  working,  for  if  your  clay 
once  dries,  all   chance  of   thumbing   it   is   over.     On  the 


No.  50. — Stoneware  Panel.     The  Vintage.     Modelled  by 
M.  Roskam  for  Boch  Freres,  Brussels. 


Other  hand,  when  it  is  diy,  you  can  carve  up  any  part  of 
your  work  or  tool  it  with  a  steel  scraper,  but  my  impression 
is  that  it  is  as  well  to  avoid  doing  much  in  this  way,  but 
get  your  effect  entirely  by  modelling  in  the  plastic  state. 

Before  your  work  can  be  fired,  it  must  be  thoroughly 
dried,  and  this  had  better  be  done  at  the  pottery,  for  if  there 


CLAY  MODELLING.  75 

be  any  moisture  in  the  clay  when  it  is  put  in  the  kib,  the 
chances  are  the  work  will  split. 

Flat  tiles  can  be  decorated  with  work  in  relief,  or  you 
could  scratch  on  your  design  and  then  take  out  the  back- 
ground to  a  certain  depth — if  the  tile  is  f -inch  thick,  then 
you  could  take  out  the  background  to  a  depth  of  f-inch — 
as  though  you  were  'grounding  out "  in  wood  carving,  and 
you  can  then  model  and  tool  up  the  design,  adding  clay  in 
those   parts  where   higher   relief  is  required  ;    but  in   the 


t 


No.  51. — Work  in  Relief.     Piano  Front  in  Silver. 
By  Miss  Esther  Moore. 

decoration  of  a  vase  with  work  in  relief  the  design  should 
appear  to  .He  upon  the ,  surface  securely,  and  not  give  the 
impression  that  it  will  drop  off  of  its  own  weight.  Work  in 
too  high  relief  spoils  the  contour  of  the  vase  by  aggressively 
asserting  itself. 

As  for  the  designs,  the  adaptation  of  any  plant  form  will 
give  you  all  the  opportunity  you  require  for  showing  taste 
and  skill.  Such  a  plant  as  the  blackberry,  used  in  Fig.  48, 
is  full  of  decorative  suggestiveness,  but  there  are  dozens  of 
other  familiar  plants  that  would  do  equally  well. 


76 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS, 


Animal  life,  as  well  as  the  human  form,  should  be  essayed 
by  those  who  feel  equal  to  it,  and  it  is  worth  noting  that 
many  who  make  but  a  poor  hand  at  drawing,  find  they  get 

on  with'*modelling,  the 

fact    being   that   in   the 

latter    the    forms  grow 

under    the    hand,    and 

^■^^       _„^^^^^^r.„^,      j^        proportion  is  thus  more 

^ffaiPPW^^^yiliiSi^H        easily  secured,   because 

^^"^i^Hl^Hi^H^BHH        form  is  felt  in  modelling, 

while   in   drawing  it  is 
only  seen. 

Another  way  of  deco- 
rating clay  in  the  plastic 
state  is  to  draw  in  the 
forms  with  a  sharp  point, 
which,  of  course,  makes 
an  incised  line.  This  is 
effective,  particularly 
where  colour  can  be 
used  too. 

The  panel  No.  49 
was  modelled  in  clay, 
and  afterwards  coloured 
and  glazed  at  the  pottery 
known  as  Delia  Robbia, 
at  Birkenhead.  This 
pottery,  like  Mr.  Conrad 
Dressler's  near  Marlow, 
produces  work  in  relief,  covered  with  an  opaque  glaze 
in  much  the  same  way  as  the  Italian  work  of  the  sixteenth 


No.  52. — The  Door  of  Spare  Berth  in 
Steerage.    "  The  Volatile." 
Designed  by  G.  C.  Haite. 


CLAY  MODELLING,  77 

century,  which  is  always  associated  with  the  name 
of  Lucca  della  Robbia.  A  certain  number  of  colours, 
blue,  brown,  yellow,  green,  and  a  dull  pink,  can  be 
given  to  the  work,  but  as  it  is  fired  to  a  great  heat 
the  palette  is  limited.  But  coloured,  glazed  pottery  is 
almost  without  the  reach  of  amateurs,  for,  unless  they  can 
get  their  works  glazed  and  fired  at  a  pottery,  it  is  impossible 
for  them  to  attempt  work  of  this  nature.  No.  50  is  an 
example  of  modelled  pottery,  and  was  in  the  Paris 
Exhibition. 

Modelled  terra  cotta,  on  the  other  hand,  can  be  fired 


^^-  53- — Butterfly  Hinge  on  Door.     "  The  Volatile." 

without  difficulty  at  a  comparatively  small  cost,  and  with 
little  risk  of  damage  in  the  kiln. 

Modelling  for  metal  casting  is  usually  done  in  wax,  as 
this  is  a  material  that  works  easily.  The  mould,  too,  is 
quickly  made  by  casting  the  model  in  sand  and  plaster,  and 
melting  out  the  wax.  Many  modellers  make  their  sketch  in 
wax,  and  then  have  this  cast  in  plaster  of  Paris,  which  they 
then  tool  up  with  steel  scrapers,  getting  an  amount  of  finish 
not  possible  in  any  other  way,  for  plaster  admits  of  a  high 
finish.     Such    a    panel   as   that   by   Miss    Esther   Moore, 


78  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

No.  51,  is  produced  in  this  way,  that  being  the  artist's 
method  of  work  The  rehef  here  is  subtle,  and  the  lines 
of  the  design  are  so  delicate  that  only  very  careful  manipu- 
lation could  produce  the  result  we  see.  Miss  Moore  makes 
her  finished  sketch  in  clay,  and  this  is  then  cast  in  plaster. 
Casting  has  come  t'o  be  a  special  calling,  largely  in  the 
hands  of  Italians,  and  it  is  advisable  to  get  a  professional 
caster  to  do  any  work  of  this  nature.  There  are  several 
men  around  Leather  Lane  who  go  round  to  studios  to  do 
casting. 


IS^ 


•■%'.   . 


^W% 


No.  54. — Details  of  Cupboard  Door  at  base  of  Spare  Berth. 
"The  Volatile." 


With  regard  to  the  casting  in  metal,  this  must  be  done  at 
a  foundry.  Of  course,  silver  can  only  be  used  for  small 
work,  as  its  cost  would  be  too  great.  Bronze  is  the  metal 
employed,  though  some  castings  have  been  made  in 
aluminium. 

Such  designs  as  the  hinges  and  ornament  on  door  of 
yacht  designed  by  Mr.  Haite,  No.  52,  are  more  within  the 
scope  of  amateurs,  as  Nature  is  of  so  much  assistance  in 
suggesting  motifs.   The  animal  forms  are  manifestly  inspired 


CLA  Y  MODELLING.  79 

by  Japanese  lacquer  work,  and  to  that  source  I  direct  the 
tyro's  attention,  for  a  study  of  good  Japanese  art  will  teach 
the  decorative  artist  much,  as  their  genius  lies  entirely  in 
the  treating  of  surfaces  with  natural  forms.  There  is  no 
occasion  to  slavishly  follow  one's  model,  for  in  the  hinges 
themselves  Mr,  Haite  has  introduced  an  original  note,  the 
suggestion  of  seaweed  being  very  happy  in  such  a  situation 
as  a  yacht  door.  The  details  shown  in  Nos.  53  and  54 
give  one  some  idea  of  the  modelling  of  the  originals.  After 
the  work  returns  from  the  casters,  it  may  be  tooled  up  and 


Ao.  55. — Portion  of  a  Frieze.     Designed  L>y  J.  Moss. 

worked  with  advantage.  Files  are  used  for  this  purpose, 
and  if  the  surface  is  too  smooth  a  certain  texture  is  given 
it  by  filing.  This,  of  course,  must  be  done  with  knowledge 
and  discretion,  and  you  had  better  only  file  away  any  rough 
places  or  defects,  and  leave  the  casting  alone,  than  tinker  at 
it  and  so  spoil  it. 

After  all  it  is  the  art  that  one  pays  for  in  all  fine  work,  and 
such  articles  as  jewellery,  table  ornaments,  etc.,  might  well 
engage  the  amateur's  attention,  for  even  if  he  have  his  work 
cast  in  silver,  at  the  present  price,  some  2s.  3d.  per  oz.,  it 


8o  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

would  not  be  a  ruinous  outlay,  while  in  bronze  the  cost  of 
metal  is  trifling ;  and  to  see  any  work  that  one  has  wrought 
entirely  oneself  gives  a  pang  of  pleasure  that  must  be 
experienced  to  be  realised.  The  mere  fact  that  your  work 
is  made  permanent  in  silver  or  bronze  gives  it  a  quality 
and  value  that  you  never  dreamed  it  possessed  in  its  wax 
or  clay  state. 

The  portion  of  a  frieze  shown  in  No.  55  is  an  admirable 


No.  56. — Calendar,  Louis  XV.     Design  in  Silver  by  Frank  Lutiger. 

example  of  a  surface  decorated  in  low  relief.  The  work  is 
concentrated,  and  the  flat  portion  of  the  panel  is  rightly 
valued.  The  suggestion  of  water  is  very  happily  given,  and 
the  restraint  of  the  whole  design  evinces  much  taste  and 
knowledge.  It  points  a  moral  to  the  tyro,  the  need  of 
keeping  oneself  well  in  hand,  and  not  being  too  boisterous 
in  one's  efforts ;  but  checking  the  impulse  to  cover  every 
part  of  the  surface  with  work,  know  how  to  confine  it  to 
certain  places  where  it  tells  with  due  effect. 


CLA  Y  MODELLING.  8 1 

The  calendar,  No.  56,  is  in  strong  contrast  to  the  rest  of 
the  illustrations  to  this  chapter,  and  it  is  well  that  all  styles 
should  be  represented  in  these  pages,  for  though  this 
so-called  Renaissance  work  makes  no  strong  appeal  to  me, 
I  quite  acknowledge  that  much  skill  is  shown  in  designing 
such  an  example  as  that  given.  My  chief  objection  is  that 
one  is  so  fettered  by  the  arbitrary  ''  style  "  adopted,  that  it 
is  next  to  impossible  for  anyone's  ego  to  find  expression, 
and,  as  may  be  gathered  from  what  I  have  said  elsewhere, 
this  is  the  greatest  possible  objection  to  working  on  such 
arbitrary  lines. 


CHAPTER  V. 


ENAMEIvUNG  AND   ENAMEIvIvBD  JEWEIvIvBRY. 


HERE  has  been  a  great  revival  in  the  art 
of  enamelling  this  last  few  years,  and  it 
is  one  of  the  crafts  taught  in  the  tech- 
nical classes  established  by  the  London 
County  Council.  Mr.  Alexander  Fisher, 
examples  of  whose  work  are  given  in 
this  chapter,  is  one  of  the  teachers,  and 
it  is  to  him  that  I  am  indebted  for  much  of  the  information 
here  given  concerning  this  most  beautiful  craft.  It  is  by  no 
means  beyond  the  reach  of  amateurs,  and  some  very 
delightful  effects  can  be  obtained  with  a  comparatively 
small  equipment,  as  the  enamels  can  be  applied  to  beaten 
metal  work  to  give  variety  and  colour  to  it.  Of  course, 
when  it  comes  to  carrying  out  a  figure  design  in  which 
there  is  a  great  play  of  colour,  then  one  enters  upon  diffi- 
culties which  can  only  be  overcome  by  the  skill  that 
comes  of  practice. 

The  equipment  for  enamelling  is  a  fire-clay  muffle  or  kiln 
heated  either  by  gas  or  charcoal,  the  enamels  themselves, 
which  are  usually  sold  in  lumps  resembling  coloured  glass, 
and  some  pieces  of  copper,  unless,  as  I  have  said,  you 
enamel  the  work  you  have  repoussed. 


ENAMELLING  AND  ENAMELLED  JEWELLERY.    83 


The  enamels  have  to  be 
pounded  up  in  a  mortar  and 
then  ground  on  a  slab  of  glass 
with  a  muller,  but  even  then  they 
will  be  gritty  and  somewhat 
difficult  to  manipulate.  They 
must  be  mixed  with  water,  and 
just  a  soup^on  of  sugar  might 
be  added  as  one  did  with  china 
colours  to  enable  them  to  be 
worked  more  easily,  and  also  to 
cause  them  to  adhere  to  the 
surface  of  the  metal,  but  very 
little  sugar  must  be  used,  for  if 
the  enamels  remain  sticky-look- 
ing when  dry,  they  will  crack 
and  bubble  in  the  kiln  and  be 
spoilt. 

One  of  the  simplest  uses  of 
enamels  is  to  take  a  disc  of 
metal  about  the  size  of  a  large 
button,  and  float  on  a  coat 
of  colour,  using  a  long,  camel- 
hair  brush  for  the  purpose.  You 
must  get  plenty  of  enamel  on 
the  metal,  and  therefore  a  long- 
haired brush  will  hold  more 
colour  than  a  short  one.  The 
•enamel  must  drop,  as  it  were,  on 
to  the  metal,  and  while  wet  it 
can  be  manipulated,  but  until  the 


No.  57. — Spoon  in  Silver  and 
Enamel.  Designed  by  Miss 
B.  Martin, 


84  JRT  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 

tyro  has  felt  his  way,  it  is  better  to  remain  content  with  just 
covering  the  metal  with  the  ground  colour.  Both  sides  of 
the  metal  must  be  enamelled  (though  on  the  back  only  a  thin 
coat  need  be  given),  if  the  metal  is  flat,  as  in  the  kiln  it  will 
become  slightly  convex  owing  to  the  ''  pull  "  of  the  enamels 
on  the  metal,  and  the  enamel  on  the  back  helps  to  pull 


No.  58. — ^Jewel  Casket  in  Wrought  Steel  and  Champleve  Enamel. 
Designed  by  Alex.  Fisher. 

against  that  on  the  front.     You  might  float  on  rings 
various  coloured  enamels,  something  like  an  archery  target 
on  a  miniature  scale,  both  to  practise  in  manipulating  the 
colours,  and.  also  to  see  how  they  fire,  for  some  enamels 
require  a  little  more  heat  than  others. 

The    muffles    are   of    various    sizes,   but    it   would    be 


ENAMELLING  AND  ENAMELLED  JEWELLERY.     85 

advisable  for  a  beginner  to  have  quite  a  small  one  at  first,  as 
only  small  articles  should  be  attempted.  There  is  an  open- 
ing in  front,  which  is  closed  with  a  fire-brick  door,  through 
which  you  place  your  work,  and  the  heat  is  soon  obtained 
sufficient  to  melt  the  enamel  on  the  metal,  but  here  one  of 
the  first  difficulties  presents  itself;  to  get  just  the  right 
amount  of  heat.  Practice  soon  tells  one  when  the  right 
heat  is  reached,  but  the  work  can  be  withdrawn  with  a  pair 
of  long  pincers,  and  the  enamel  looked  at  to  see  if  it  has 
melted,  and  it  can  be  put  back  and  fired  again  if  necessary. 
The  work  should  be  left  to  cool  in  the  muffle,  as  by  cooling 
it  too  quickly  the  enamel  is  apt  to  crack,  and  even  flake  off. 
Too  much  heat  will  cause  the  enamels  to  cinder  and  spoil, 
and  this  must  be  most  carefully  guarded  against :  under- 
firing  can  be  easily  remedied,  but  the  opposite  fault  is 
fatal. 

Colour,  without  much  design,  applied  to  metal,  if  it  be  nice 
colour,  produces  a  very  pleasant  effect,  and  a  necklace  or 
other  form  of  chain  ornament,  composed  of  small  discs  ot 
silver  enamelled  and  linked  together,  is  very  decorative  in 
effect.  Inmy  former  book,  The  Training  of  a  Craftsman^ 
in  the  chapters  on  Enamelling  and  Jewellery  some  simple 
effects  are  shown  which  might  well  engage  the  beginner's 
attention.  The  necklace  on  page  80,  for  instance,  composed 
of  small  quatrefoils  of  beaten  .silver,  about  the  size  of  a  yellow 
buttercup,  would  look  very  rich  if  each  one  were  enamelled, 
perhaps  a  different  colour,  the  pearl  being  replaced  by  a 
blob  of  enamel.  The  silver  jewel  by  Mr.  Frampton  on  page 
2>(i,  composed  of  a  disc  of  silver  about  \\  inches  in 
diameter,  with  a  name  in  a  light  enamel  on  a  dark  ground, 
to  which  are  attached  small  plain  discs,  about  f-inch  in 


86 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


diameter,  enamelled  in  various  colours,  made  an  unique  and 
beautiful  personal  ornament,  and  was  simplicity  itself. 

The  same  enamel  on  copper,  silver,  and  gold,  will  have  a 
different  effect  on  each  metal,  owing  to  the  colour  of  the 
metal  showing  through  the  enamels,  and  in  elaborate 
schemes,  such  as  those  of  Mr.  Fisher's,  which  are  on  copper, 
small  pieces  of  silver  and  gold  foil  are  placed  under  certain 


No*  59- — Girdle  in  Repousse  Steel  and  Enamels. 
Designed  by  Alex.  Fisher. 

very  transparent  enamels  to  produce  a  gem-like  effect.  In 
the  necklace  above  referred  to  the  pearl  in  the  original 
might  be  replaced  by  a  small  disc  of  silver  if  the  quatrefoils 
are  copper,  or  of  gold  if  of  silver.  The  enamel  binds 
these  pieces  of  added  metal  to  the  parent. 

Those  who  have  painted  china  or  pottery  know  that  some 
colours  do  not  assume  their  proper  tint  until  fired,  and  this 


ENAMELLING  AND  ENAMELLED  JEWELLERY,    87 

is  the  case  with  enamels,  a  dull  yellow  brown,  for  instance, 
firing  a  lovely  turquoise.  The  beginner  should  not  burden 
himself  with  many  enamels,  for  much  may  be  done  with 
some  six  or  eight  colours.  One  enamel  can  be  painted  over 
another,  and  the  tyro  should  certainly  let  his  first  efforts  be  of 
the  nature  of  experiments,  learning  his  way  about,  as  it  were. 

Enamels,  like  water  colours,  may  be  classed  as  those 
which  are  opaque,  those  which  are  semi-opaque,  and  the 
transparent  or  translucent  ones.  In  painting  a  head,  for 
instance,  opaque  enamels  must  be  used  in  the  flesh,  but 
another  class  of  effects  can  .be  obtained  by  using  an  opaque 
enamel  over  a  dark,  transparent  one,  allowing  some  of  the 
ground  colour  to  show  through.  It  is  the  successful  inter- 
play of  the  three  classes  of  enamels  that  yields  those  fine 
effects  which  we  marvel  at  in  old  and  some  modern  work. 
Enamelling  is  essentially  a  colour  art,  and  everything  should 
be  done  to  bring  out  this  quality,  in  which  it  stands 
unrivalled.  The  effect  of  veneers  of  gems  is  to  be 
obtained,  and  the  worker  in  enamels  should  think  of  colour 
before  form,  though  the  perfect  work  is  the  result  of  a 
union  of  the  two.  The  beginner,  I  hold,  should  not  think 
too  much  about  form,  for  while  he  is  occupied  in  scheming 
out  his  design,  and  attending  to  the  delineation,  he  is  apt  to 
neglect  his  palette,  and,  as  I  have  endeavoured  to  show, 
many  charming  effects  can  be  obtained  with  enamels 
without  any  very  elaborate  designing. 

In  speaking  of  enamels  one  always  thinks  of  those  works 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  wrought  at  Limoges  by  the 
families  of  Penicaud,  Courtois,  Limousin,  and  others. 
Like  all  traditional  arts,  there  is  a  certain  likeness  in  all  the 
works  of  the  period,  and  if  we  examine  the  examples  in 


88' 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


any  fine  collection,  such  as  the  Waddesdon  bequest  at  the 
British  Museum,  we  find  that  a  dark,  serai-opaque  blue 


No.  60. — "  Olivia."     Enamelled  Plaque  in  Translucent  Enamel. 
Designed  by  Alex.  Fisher. 


ground  covers  the  copper,   while  translucent  and  opaque 
enamels  play  into  this.     The  sixteenth  century  craftsmen 


ENAMELLING  AND  ENAMELLED  JEWELLERY,    89 

were  very  skilful  in  using  an  opaque  enamel  so  that  the 
modelling  was  given  by  the  ground  colour  showing  through 
the  white.  When  we  consider  the  size  of  the  dishes, 
plaques,  ewers,  and  other  articles  successfully  fired  by  these 
Limoges  craftsmen,  knowing  the  risks  run  wherever  work 
has  to  go  through  the  ordeal  by  fire,  it  increases  our 
admiration  of  their  productions,  though  the  designs  they 


No.  61. — Eldorado,  set  with  jewels,  in  Translucent  Enamels  and 
Steel  Settings.     Designed  by  Alex.  Fisher, 

carried  out  may  not  be  quite  to  our  taste.  Anyone  who 
has  tried  enamelling  knows  that  in  these  sixteenth  century 
works  the  enamellers  thoroughly  gauged  the  capabilities  of 
their  craft,  and  used  it  to  secure  the  best  results.  They 
made  no  attempt  to  produce  the  effect  of  an  oil  painting  or 
a  miniature,  but  worked  to  display  the  peculiar  resources 


90  ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 

and  individualities  of  their  craft,  which  is  just]what  we 
should  do  and  what  we  can  do  without  in  any  way  imitating 
these  old  Limoges  enamels.  It  is  to  that  end  that  I  direct 
the  reader's  attention  to  the  importance  of  keeping  before 
one  that  enamelling  is  a  colour  art,  and  that  certain 
qualities  of  colour  (as  though  we  overlaid  metals  with  gems), 
as  well  as  the  colours  themselves,  are  the  prerogatives  of 
this  craft,  and  this  craft  alone. 

The  tyro  might  take  such  forms  as  a  butterfly,  beetle, 
bird,  or  peacock's  feather,  and  carry  out  the  colour  scheme 
suggested  by  these  objects.  Treat  them  ornamentally,  7iot 
naturally,  and  chiefly  for  their  colour.  Look  upon  them  as 
rich  and  varied  palettes,  shaped  after  one  of  these  natural 
forms,  for  what  could  be  more  brilliant  than  a  kingfisher  or 
a  red  admiral  butterfly  ?  And  in  rendering  them  in  enamels 
we  bring  all  the  resources  of  our  craft  into  play. 

The  enamelling  of  the  handle  of  a  spoon.  No.  57,  would 
be  a  simple  work  to  essay,  for  here  the  design  is  given  by  the 
metal,  and  the  only  thing  to  think  about  is  the  colours 
to  use  and  the  putting  of  them  on.  The  ornamental 
portions  of  the  casket,  No.  58,  would  also  be  simple  to 
enamel,  as  here  again  the  metal  work  gives  the  design.  In 
champleve  enamels  spaces  are  cut  out  in  a  thick  plate  of 
metal,  and  these  spaces  filled  in  with  powdered  enamel,  which 
is  then  fired,  and  afterwards  filed  down  even  with  the  metal 
and  then  polished. 

If  we  roughen  the  surface  of  the  metal,  indent  a  pattern 
in  it,  chase  or  repousse  it,  and  then  cover  it  with  translucent 
colour,  the  work  we  have  done  on  the  metal  will  materially 
affect  the  enamels,  and  enamels  used  in  this  way  may  be 
looked  upon  as  handmaids  to  metal  work. 


ENAMELLING  AND  ENAMELLED   JEWELLERY.     91 

Much  of  the  fine  jewellery  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
unique  specimens  of  which  are  in  the  Waddesdon  room, 
are  touched  up  with  enamels,  that  is,  they  are  employed  to 


\Lm^mMmmmim 


No.  62. — Triptych,  in  Enamel  and  Bronze.    Designed  by  Alex.  Fisher. 


heighten  the  effect  by  adding  colour  to  form.  The  tyro,  in 
taking  up  such  a  craft  as  this,  should  make  a  careful  study 
of  fine  old  work,  not  with  an  idea  of  doing  anything  like 


92 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


it,  but  to  catch   the  spirit   of  the   work    of  the   masters. 
The  girdle,  No.  59,  could  have  the  circular  spaces   ena- 


Py  permission  of  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Percy  iryndhain. 

No.  63. — Portrait  of  Lady  Elcho  in  Translucent  Enamels. 
Designed  by  Alex.  Fisher. 

melled  in  some  simple  design,  while  the  pierced  and  beaten 
ornamental  portions  could  also  be  enamelled. 


ENAMELLING  AND  ENAMELLED  JEWELLERY.     93 

A  skilled  worker  makes  some  of  his  own  colours,  but  a 
very  varied  assortment  of  enamels,  chiefly  of  French  make, 
can  be  purchased,  so  the  tyro  had  better  confine  himself  to 
learning  what  to  do  with  them  rather  than  waste  his  time  in 
chemical  experiments. 

Gold  is  often  used  in  enamelling — in  old  Limoges  work 
it  is  employed  as  an  outline  on  the  dark  ground,  and  so 
used  is  rich  and  effective.  Gold  is  put  in  in  the  form  of  a 
dull  yellow  powder,  similar  to  gold  used  in  china  painting, 
and  must  be  applied  in  the  last  firing,  as  it  requires  burnish- 
ing when  fired.  An  elaborate  effect  is  fired  sometimes  ten 
or  eleven  times,  the  harder  enamels  being  fired  on  first  and 
those  requiring  less  heat,  afterwards.  The  opaque  enamels 
can  be  finished  with  ordinary  china  colours,  and  in  a 
portrait  this  is  often  resorted  to,  but  in  the  Limoges  portrait 
enamels,  like  that  of  Catherine  of  Lorraine,  No.  24,  in  the 
Waddesdon  Collection,  no  attempt  is  made  to  get  the  effect 
of  a  portrait  in  oils,  but  a  quite  simple  scheme  of  colour, 
with  a  flat  treatment,  in  which  there  is  no  striving  after 
elaborate  modelling,  characterises  the  flesh.  The  drapery 
and  jewels  are  richly  coloured,  jewellery  being  particularly 
well  rendered  by  enamels.  The  white  of  the  enamel  used 
for  flesh  is  slightly  tinted  with  pink,  which  can  be  done 
with  china  colours,  but  the  worker  should  not  seek  to  get 
the  effect  of  china  painting,  but  go  for  a  simpler  and  more 
characteristic  treatment. 

The  old  Battersea  enamels  were  worked  on  copper,  the 
metal  being  covered  thickly  with  a  milky  opaque  enamel. 
Upon  this  the  design  was  painted  as  it  would  have  been  on 
china,  and  with  the  same  colours.  Translucent  enamels 
were  sometimes  used  in  addition,  but  these  Battersea  snuff- 


94 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


boxes  and  bijouterie  have  none  of  the  splendour  of  Limoges 
work  :  they  are  too  much  like  painted  china  to  be  success- 
ful as  enamels. 

In    figure   work    the    mistake   many   painters   make   is 


No.  64. 


The  Voices  of  the  Night,"  in  Translucent  Enamels. 
Designed  by  Alex.  Fisher. 


attempting  to  be  too  realistic.  In  the  head  of  Olivia, 
No.  60,  the  flesh  was  kept  very  simple,  the  features  and 
contour  being  slightly  outlined.  The  hair  was  treated  as  a 
mass,  and  a  few  gold  threads  were  introduced.  The  dress 
was  very  brilliant,  looking  like  black  velvet  and  silver. 


ENAMELLING  AND  ENAMELLED  JEWELLERY,     95 

Portraits  were  very  successfully  painted  by  the  Limoges 
craftsmen,  and  there  is  a  great  charm  about  them  in  their 
severity.  In  No.  d-^^  the  head  by  being  kept  en  profile  is 
certainly  more  easily  worked  in  enamels,  and  the  flat  treat- 
ment, with  no  attempt  to  get  depth  of  colour  or  chiaro  oscuro, 
is  quite  the  right  treatment. 

Mr.  Alex.  Fisher  is  a  very  skilful  worker  in  metal,  and  the 
tyro  might  well  confine  his  enamelling  to  the  frames  them- 
selves, leaving  the  spaces  filled  with  subjects  to  be  occupied 
by  photographs  or  paintings,  for  badly  drawn  and  poorly 
executed  figure  compositions  are  works  no  one  wishes  to 
possess,  and  only  those  who  have  the  knowledge,  as  well  as 
much  skill,  should  essay  them  ;  whereas  many  who  work  in 
metal  could  employ  enamels  with  considerable  effect,  to  give 
variety  to  their  repousse  work. 

Such  examples  as  No.  64  and  the  Triptych,  No  62,  call 
into  play  all  the  resources  of  the  enameller's  craft,  and  for 
ecclesiastical  purposes  what  can  be  more  appropriate  than 
works  in  enamel,  seeing  that  they  are  not  only  brilliantly 
decorative,  but  permanent,  as  only  work  that  is  fired  can  be. 
Those  workers  who  feel  capable  of  trying  their  hand  at  a 
figure  composition  might,  instead  of  seeking  to  produce 
original  designs,  interpret  some  of  the  old  masters  in  the 
National  Gallery  that  lend  themselves  to  the  treatment,  such 
as  Botticelli's  Madonna. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


BOOKBINDING    AND    LEATHER    WORK. 


HO  would  have  thought  a  few  years 
ago  that  bookbinding  could  be 
successfully  followed  by  amateurs, 
and  yet  most  excellent  work  is  exe- 
cuted, even  in  villages,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Home  Arts  Associ- 
ation, examples  of  which  we  see  in 
Nos.  4,  67,  and  76,  while  such  guilds  as  that  of  the  Women 
Binders  and  Chiswick  School  of  Art,  an  example  of  whose 
work  may  be  seen  in  No.  65,  turn  out  work  that  is  both 
original  and  craftsmanlike.  The  tooling  on  the  cover  of 
Thrd  the  Looki?ig  Glass  is  very  ingeniously  contrived,  besides 
being  symbolical  of  the  contents  of  the  book.  Not  that  this 
can  always  or  often  be  done  in  such  an  emphatic  manner  as 
shown  in  this  example,  and  purists  I  doubt  not  would 
object  to  such  a  direct  reference  to  the  book  itself  in  the 
ornamentation  of  the  covers,  but  an  original  note  is  after  all 
what  we  are  all  waiting  to  hear. 

The  ornamentation  of  leather  may  be  divided  into 

1.  Gold  Tooling  and  work  done  with  small  stamps. 

2.  Inlaying. 

3.  Incising  and  embossing. 


BOOKBINDING  AND  LEATHER    WORK, 


Of  course  the  three  may  be  combined  in  one  cover,  though 
as  a  rule  only  the  two  first  are  united.  Poker  work  on 
leather  is  touched  upon  in  Chapter  XIII. 

The  colouring  or  painting  of  leather  cannot  be  said  to  be 
a  development  of  the  craft,  but  rather  an  addition  to  it,  and 
it  is  a  doubtful  expedient  adding  paint  to  a  book  cover. 
However,  as  we  shall 
touch  upon  painted 
leathers  in  this  chap- 
ter, we  will  leave 
further  consideration 
until  then. 

No.  65  is  an  ex- 
ample of  pure  tooHng, 
where  the  lines  form- 
ing the  design  are 
pressed  into  the 
leather  with  heated 
tools  and  afterwards 
gilded  (though  they 
may  be  left  plain 
or  "blind"  as  it  is 
termed).  The  tooling 
in  this  example  is 
carried  very  far,  for 
it  is  made  to  render 

grotesque  heads,  and  to  accomplish  this  the  craftsman  must 
be  very  expert,  as  there  is  no  altering  wrong  lines  or 
retrieving  mistakes,  for  a  line  once  pressed  into  leather  has 
to  remain.  The  binder's  skill  is  best  shown  in  tooling,  for 
with  comparatively  simple  means  the  most  beautiful  effects 

H 


^  ""(^^ 

^.'^ 

i^-'^ 

P 

Ifl 

■  /  /. 

><^m 

1 V/^  ■    '       ' 

.J:fi 

ml 

^^k\\\A      ' 

%'.  'f^^M 

i  /'J 

t^/gp^Sj   1 

liyj 

vJ-* 

'^i:'? 

i^<? 

r 

w 

■^h 

/ 

No.  65. — Example  of  Tooling,  by  Chis- 
wick  School  of  Arts  and  Crafts.  The 
suggestion  of  grotesque  heads  is  very 
skilfully  managed. 


cj8 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


can  be  obtained,  as  a  line  or  curve  tooled  on  leather  is  in 
itself  a  beautiful  thing. 


Ko.  66.— Inlaid  Book  Cover,  designed  by  F.  A.  Hallin. 
To  help  out  the  tooling,  small  stamps  cut  in  the  shape  of 


BOOKBINDING  AND  LEATHER    WORK. 


99 


leaves,  stars,  flowers,  and  other  simple  forms  are  used. 
By  combining  these  in  various  ways  considerable  variety  of 
effects  can  be  wrought. 

As  an  example  of  elaborate  inlaying  No.  dd  is  a  most 
admirable  instance,  and  shows  what  can  be  done  by  a 
skilled  craftsman.  It  was  shown  in  the  recent  Paris 
Exhibition.        In 

this    example  we  y^>^ 

have  the  tree  and  ^  \^ 

deer  in  dark 
morocco,  while 
the  rest  of  the 
cover  is  in  a  light 
colour.  The 
leaves  are  tooled, 
not  stamped. 
Tnis  example  is  a 
tour  de  force^  for 
the  difficulties  in 
rendering  the 
swans  and  water 
with  its  reflections 
are  veiy  consider- 
able,  as  they  are 

executed  with  much  skill.  Whether  binding  should  go  so; 
far  in  a  pictorial  direction  I  will  not  decide.  The  less 
ambitious,  more  restrained  work,  is  certainly  more  satisfying 
to  many  of  us. 

An  exam.ple  of  repousse  work  on  leather  is  seen  in 
No.  67.  The  design  is  beaten  out  from  the  back,  being 
first  tooled  on  the  front  to  give  the  outline  which  is  to  be 


No.  67. — Repousse  Leather,  by  the  Kirby 
Lonsdale  Class,  under  Messrs.  Harris. 


100  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

followed  in  the  embossing.  Very  excellent  effects  are  to  be 
obtained  in  this  way,  and  it  does  not  present  the  difficulties 
that  gold  tooling  does,  as  the  tooling  in  No.  67  is  blind. 
I  shall  deal  with  this  work  and  developments  of  it  sub- 
sequently. 

We  have  a  combination   of  tooling   and  embossing  in 


< 


No.  68. — Bookbinding,  designed  and  executed  by  Miss  J.  Birkenrutli. 
An  example  of  tooling  stamping  with  figme  panel  in  repousse. 

No.  68,  by  Miss  Birkenruth,  who  is  always  original  in 
her  bindings,  and  the  resources  of  her  craft  are  well 
shown  in  this  example.  The  fish,  by  being  left  plain 
on    a    punched   or    powdered  ground,   have   almost    the 


BOOKBINDING  AND  LEATHER    WORK,  loi 

effect  of  being  inlaid.     This  dotting  of  leather  adds,  as 
it  were,  another   colour   to  the  binding,  Tcjil,  ;ili 'seems  t^*.\V 
veil  the  leather  and  give  it  a  bloom.     Punches  of  various 
designs  are  employed  to  produce  these  J)^^g,roundS;«  |>lld^^'  '  >',' 
when  rightly  used  are  very  helpful. 

The  combination  of  colour  to  embossing  may  be  seen  in 
No.  69.  The  Spanish  carried  the  treatment  of  embossed 
and  painted  leather  as  far  as  it  ever  has  been  taken  in  their 
wall  coverings,  and  it  will  be  better  to  consider  the  subject 
when  treating  of  this  class  of  work. 

Mr.  and  Miss  MacColl  have  introduced  a  new  technique 
into  tooling  by  using  a  wheel  to  produce  not  only  straight 
lines  but  curves  and  forms  usually  produced  by  stamps. 
The  method,  with  some  examples,  will  be  found  fully 
described  in  The  Training  of  a  Craftsman. 

We  will  now  deal  in  detail  with  a  certain  class  of  work 
that  might  first  occupy  an  amateur's  attention  and  then 
touch  upon  the  matter  of  making  designs  for  leather 
work. 

Much  attention  has  been  given  to  leather  embossing 
within  the  last  few  years,  and  as  the  effects  obtainable  are 
admirable,  and  the  work  is  more  within  the  scope  of  amateurs 
than  "tooling,"  we  will  first  consider  its  possibilities,  and 
very  briefly  its  technique,  which  I  take  from  an  article 
contributed  by  Mr.  H.  Jacobsen,  an  eminent  worker  in 
this  way. 

The  design  to  be  wrought  must  be  made  full  size, 
and  a  tracing  taken  on  stout  tracing  paper,  which  is 
then  laid  over  the  leather,  well  damped  beforehand  with 
a  sponge.  With  a  hard  point  the  design  is  now  gone 
over,   thus   leaving   an   impress   upon    the    leather.      For 


I02  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

cutting   the   outlines,    the   leather  is   put   on   a   board  of 
hard   wood- -or  better,   a   stone   slab   or    sheet   of    thick 


No.  69. — Painted,  embossed,  and  lacquered  Leather  Screen  by  Mr, 
George  Hulbe,  of  Frankfort.    Exhibited  at  the  Paris  Exhibition. 


plate-glass.      A    small   sharp   knife   is   used,   held   like   a 
penholder,  the   sharp   ^^g^   in   front,    and  it  is  advisable 


BOOKBINDING  AND  LEATHER    WORK.  103 

to  start  the  cutting  at  the  commencement  of  the  design. 
With   Hght   pressure,  the  knife  is  led  along  the  outlines, 
pushing   it   forward   and   at   the  same  time  supporting  it 
with   the  forefinger  of  the  left  hand.     Straight  lines  are 
better  cut  with  the  help  of  a  ruler.     The  leather,  whether 
thick    or    thin,   must    be   cut   exactly   half  through;    for 
if  cut  too  deeply,  the  material  is  weakened,  and  if  too 
lightly,  the  ornament  is  apt  to  be  indistinct.     The  greatest 
care  must  be  taken  over  this  part  of  the  process,  as  the 
after  success  largely  depends  upon  this  preliminary  work. 
The   cutting   finished,  the   space   between  the  ornaments 
must  be  pressed  down.     This  is  done  as  follows: — First, 
slightly  wet   the   leather  with   a  sponge  dipped  in  clean 
cold  water;    then  take  the   "modelling"  tool,  and  with 
the   point  go   over   the   incised  lines,  laying  them  open. 
This   done,   use   the   broad   end   of    the   same   tool,   and 
press   the   space   between   the   ornaments   down,    so    that 
the   latter   come   into   bold  relief.      This  process  requires 
to   be   done   with   some   force,   and   it   must   likewise    be 
executed  carefully  and  evenly,  so  as  to  bring  the  ornament 
well  out.     By  continually  wetting  the  surface  the  work  is 
made  easier. 

In  order  to  make  the  modelling  process  more  interesting 
and  the  work  more  artistic,  the  leather  is  cut  underneath 
that  part  of  the  ornament  which  it  is  desirable  to  raise. 
For  this  part  of  the  work,  take  the  undercutting  knife  in 
the  right  hand,  and  cut  in  a  nearly  vertical  position  under- 
neath the  ornament,  whereby  the  leather  will  be  split 
according  to  the  size  of  the  design. 

To  obtain  relief,  the  leather  must  be  punched  up  from 
the  back,   being   first   wetted;    and  the  amount   of  relief 


I04 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


depends  upon  the  force  which  is  used.  But  to  preserve 
these  hollowings,  they  must  be  filled  up  at  the  back  with 
modelling  wax.  This  must  be  pressed  home  with  dry 
hands,  as  the  presence  of  any  moisture  will  prevent  the 

adhesion  of  the  wax 
to  the  leather.  The 
wax  must  only  just 
fill  the  hollows,  for 
if  it  project  beyond 
the  plane  of  the 
leather,  it  will  make 
it  uneven  when  the 
leather  is  laid  down 
upon  the  millboard 
or  other  surface  it  is 
to  cover. 

Punching  the  sur- 
face of  the  leather 
will  give  a  different 
texture,  and  also  give 
prominence  to  the 
ornament.  "Star" 
and  "  ring  "  punches 
are  used  of  various 
according    to 


sizes, 


No.  70.— Panelled  Design,  modelled  on 
sixteenth-century  Mork  ;  to  be  incised 
and  embossed.  The  dotted  spaces  re- 
present punched  surfaces. 

the  dimensions  of  the 

work  to  be  wrought,  and  by  keeping   the   leather   moist 

and  giving  each  punch  a  sharp  blow  with  a  hammer,  it  is 

permanently  indented. 

By  working  the  leather  from  the  back  and  punching  down 

the  surface,  quite  sufficient  relief  will  be  obtained  for  chair- 


BOOKBINDING  AND  LEATHER    WORK. 


105 


backs,  or  seats,  where  it  would  be  inadvisable  to  use  wax. 
It  is  only  in  book  covers,  box  covers,  and  suchlike  articles, 
that  higher  relief 
should  be  attempted, 
and  then  the  use  of 
wax  is  indispensable. 
Designs  Nos.  70,  71 
and  72  are  all  suit- 
able for  this  treat- 
ment. 

The  process  reads 
simple  enough,  and  it 
is  one  in  which  a 
sufficient  technique 
is  soon  acquired,  so 
that  the  amateur  is 
enabled  to  produce 
very  creditable  work 
in  a  short  time. 
Leather  is  indeed  a 
pleasant  material  to 
work,  as  it  is  very 
responsive  to  the 
touch,  so  that  a  work 
does  not  have  to  be 
in  hand  long  enough 
for  all  interest  in  it  to 
vanish.  On  the  con- 
trary,    an      effect    is        No.  71.— Design  for  Chair-back,  suggested 

/  ^  by  sixteenth-century  work— strap-work 

quickly     obtained  ;  ornament,  to  be  incised  and  embossed. 

.1  ^„„i  r      ^  The  background  can  be  punched  over, 

though,      of    course,  as  indicated. 


io6  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

leather  embossing  can  be  brought  to  a  high  degree  of 
artisiic  finish.  It  is  obvious  from  the  brief  description 
given  that  thick  leather,  such  as  pig  skin  or  stout  calf, 
yields  the  best  result,  as  the  very  depth  of  the  material  gives 
the  worker  so  much  more  scope. 

The  natural  colour  of  the  skin,  too,  seems  to  be  more 
suitable  to  the  process  than  dyed  leather  like  morocco, 
though  some  workers  stain  portions  of  the  design  with 
liquid  dyes.  If  this  be  done  artistically,  the  effect  is 
enhanced,  as  the  natural  surface  of  the  leather  is  in  no  way 

impaired.  Miss 
Eassett,  in  the  bind- 
ings wrought  under 
her  direction  at 
Leighton  Buzzard, 
uses  stains  upon  the 
leather,  keeping  the 
tint  very  pale,  after- 
wards varnishing  the 

No.  72.-Chair  Seat.     To  go  with  Design      ^^ather     with     the 
No.  71.  proper  medium. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  quite  sufficient  relief  can 
be  o.btained  without  the  necessity  of  using  wax  at  the  back. 
Miss  Bassett  produces  some  effective  calf  bindings  with 
blind  tooling  [i.e.  tooling  without  the  use  of  gold),  with 
some  parts  of  the  design  in  low  relief.  For  book  covers  it 
is  undoubtedly  a  mistake  to  raise  the  design  too  highly,  as . 
these  portions  would  soon  rub  and  become  shabby. 

Those  readers  who  have  got  their  'prentice  hand  in  will 
have  no  difficulty  in  trying  experiments  in  new  directions, 
suggested  possibly  by  these  notes ;  but  to  the  beginner,  it 


BOOKBINDING  AND  LEATHER    WORK, 


107 


would  certainly  be  advisable  to  get  a  few  lessons  under  a 
practical  binder.  Method  is  so  much  quicker  acquired  by 
seeing  than  by  hearing,  while  the  use  of  tools  can  alone  be 
imparted  by  practical  demonstration.  With  a  basis  of 
knowledge  it  is  easy 
to  add  fresh  methods 
to  one's  existing 
craftsmanship. 

In  speaking  of  the 
designs  I  have 
schemed  out  to  ac- 
company these  hints, 
I  may  point  out  that 
they  must  be  looked 
upon  as  suggestive 
notes  or  diagrams, 
and  in  no  way  as 
indicating  the  effects 
to  be  obtained  by  the 
processes  used.  Only 
photographs  of  actual 
work  can  render,  in 
even  a  faint  degree, 
the  look  of  work  in 
leather.  Of  course, 
I  kept  steadily  before 
myself  the  method  of  production,  and  endeavoured  in  all 
cases  to  draw  such  effects  as  could  be  adequately  ren- 
dered by  the  means  employed.  It  is  only  by  remembering 
how  your  effects  are  obtained,  and  the  tools  employed 
in  securing    the    results,    that    one   can    design    for    the 


No.  73. — Design  for  Chair  with  leather 
back  and  seat.  See  Figs.  71  and 
72  for  the  details. 


io8  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

craft.  The  designs  I  have  drawn  may  be  looked  upon 
as  experiments  which  in  the  carrying  out  would  need  to  be 
modified  or  altered.  As  I  have  said  elsewhere,  a  design 
should  really  grow  under  the  fingers,  and  it  can  never  be 
wholly  realised  on  paper,  nor  should  the  craftsman  be  too 
much  tied  and  bound  by  his  diagram.  No.  77  is  a  design 
for  a  wallet  to  hang  on  a  wall  to  contain  papers,  with  a 
place  for  calendar.  The  decoration  could  be  tooled  and 
embossed  or  incised  and  embossed,  but  the  beating  up  of 
certain  forms  like  the  tulip  flower  is  essential  in  such  a 
design  if  the  full  effect  is  to  be  obtained.  These  flower 
forms  might  be  further  accentuated  by  being  tinted  with 
dyes.  The  dark  parts  around  the  edge  of  the  wallet  might 
be  punched  with  stars.  The  making  of  the  wallet  itself 
would  present  no  difliculty  to  one  used  to  working  in 
leather.  It  should  have  a  backing  of  good  //^/'^  millboard 
to  hang  against  the  wall,  the  divisions  for  papers  could  be 
flexible,  and  if  the  front  were  made  of  a  stout  piece  of  calf, 
it  would  not  require  any  backing,  though  this  is  a  matter 
that  can  be  left  to  the  worker's  discretion. 

The  cover  design,  No.  74,  is  designed  to  suit  tooling, 
though  it  could  also  be  incised  and  embossed.  It  is  a 
highly  ornamentalised  treatment  of  foliage,  a  distinct 
feature  being  made  of  the  twisting  of  the  stems  around  the 
supports,  which  could  be  adequately  rendered  by  tooling  or 
incising. 

No.  70  is  suggested  by  a  class  of  design  to  which  the 
name  Renaissance  is  loosely  given.  A  book  cover  of 
Mr.  Jacobsen's  suggested  the  present  design.  The  portions 
enclosed  by  the  ''strap  work"  border  is  intended  to  be 
punched   with    stars   or   dots.     This   "  strap    work  "   is  a 


BOOKBINDING  AND  LEATHER    WORK, 


109 


distinct  feature  in  the  work  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  is 
most  ingeniously  twisted  and  planned. 

As  regards  the  designs,  Nos.  71  and  72,  I  have  modelled 
them  upon  some  strap-work  carved  panels,  French  work  ot 
the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.     This  strap  work  is  so 
obviously    fitted    for 
being  reproduced  by 
incising  and  embos- 
sing, and  is  in  itself 
so  ingenious  and  ef- 
fective, that  I  could 
not  give,  it  seems  to 
me,     more     suitable 
schemes   of    decora- 
tion for  leather. 

Chair  backs  and 
seats  are  obviously 
such  admirable  arti- 
cles to  engage  the 
amateur's  attention 
that  I  have  devoted 
some  space  to  mak- 
ing designs  for  these 
purposes.  I  give  a 
sketch  of  a  chair  suit- 
able for  leather  work. 
Those  readers  who 
wish  to  get  chairs  made  to  a  particular  design  should  find 
out  a  chair-maker  to  the  trade  and  get  an  estimate, 
when  it  will  be  found  that  the  charge  is  not  so  heavy 
as  they  anticipate.     Of  course,  large  and  elaborate  chairs, 


No.  74. — Design  for  Book-cover,  Sug- 
gested by  the  twisting  of  a  tendril 
around  a  stem ;  to  be  produced  by 
tooling  or  incising  and  embossing. 


no  ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS, 

«uch  as  the  one  sketched  in  No.  73.  would  cost 
some  five  pounds  at  least,  but  then  they  are  imposing 
pieces  of  furniture.  In  one  I  saw  the  leather  for  back 
and  seat  was  "laced"  in  position  with  stout  leather 
thongs  (and  so  is  the  seat  in  No.  73),  and  was  decidedly 
effective  so  fastened  to  the  frame. 

The  other  design,  No.  75,  is  of  quite  a  different  genre 


No.  75.— Design  supported  by  Heraldrj',  to  be  wrought  by  incising 
and  embossing. 

to  the  Other  examples,  being  heraldic  in  character.  Quaint 
*  beasts '  are  always  excellent  motifs  in  designs  for  the 
crafts.  The  embossing  here  would  come  into  play  with 
great  effect ;  but  instead  of  incising  use  blind  tooling  to  get 
the  effect  shown  in  No.  67.  In  the  heraldic  beast  the 
foliated  background  should  be  kept  pretty  flat,  so  as  to  give 
prominence  to  the  animal.    Heraldry  is  full  of  decorative  sug- 


BOOKBINDING  AND  LEATHER    WORK. 


gestiveness,  and  might  be  drawn  largely  upon  by  designers. 
No.  85  would  be  suitable  for  blind  tooling,  while  the  back- 
ground around  the  foliage  and  'beast'  might  be  punched 
over  so  as  to  throw  the  design  into  relief. 

No.  76  might  be  considered  somewhat  rococo,  but  in 
endeavouring  to  get  away  from  the  class  of  design  one 
is  familiar  with  one 
must  experiment.  It 
would  be  easy  to 
carry  out  this  for  a 
blotter  or  music  folio, 
and  I  think  it  would 
look  effective.  In 
using  insect  forms 
in  this  way  the 
general  shape  of  the 
creature  only  is  con- 
sidered, no  reference 
to  a  particular  species 
being  made. 

No.  78  is  intended 
to  be  embossed, 
coloured  and  lac- 
quered in  the  way  of 
the  old  Spanish  leathers.  Quaint  renderings  of  animal 
forms  give  interest  and  variety  to  a  design,  and  if  treated 
quite  simply  and  ornamentally  need  not  frighten  the  amateur 
away  by  fear  of  difficulty.  A  study  of  heraldic  beasts  will 
be  of  use  in  showing  how  to  simplify  and  ornamentalise 
nature.  Besides  book  covers,  many  other  objects  can  be 
worked  in  leather,  such  as  jewel  and  other  boxes. 


No.  76. — Design  for  Book-cover,  for  in- 
cising and  embossing,  or  tooling. 


112  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

Figures  in  decoration  should,  to  a  great  extent,  be 
treated  as  animal  forms  are — being  simplified  and  thought 
of  more  as  "  shapes  "  than  as  representations  of  persons. 
By  choosing  children  or  cupids  we  escape  many  of  the 
•difficulties  inseparable  from  adults. 

There  has  been  a  revival  of  embossed  and  painted 
leather  for  wall-coverings,  screens,  and  other  purposes,  to 
which  old  Spanish  leathers  are  put,  and  I  see  no  reason 
why  the  amateur  should  not  essay  works  of  this  kind.  The 
difficulties  are  certainly  not  as  great  as  they  are  in  book- 
binding, for  you  have  only  to  decorate  flat  pieces  of  leather 
— as  the  joining  of  these  together,  so  as  to  cover  a  large 
surface,  only  requires  the  care  a  paperhanger  gives  to 
expensive  wall-papers.  The  effect  of  the  old  Spanish 
leathers  is  due  to  two  things,  the  rich  colouring,  in  which 
gilding  plays  an  important  part,  and  the  embossing.  The 
leather  had,  I  believe,  a  backing  of  thick  paper  ghied  on  to 
it,  and  this  kept  the  portions  hammered  up  in  relief.  The 
manipulation  would  have  to  be  effected,  to  a  large  extent, 
while  the  backing  was  plastic.  I  have  an  idea  that  the  skin 
should  be  manipulated  in  the  way  I  have  described  by 
being  beaten  out  at  the  back,  and  those  parts  in  low  relief 
pressed  down  from  the  front,  and  that  if  two  or  three  sheets 
of  good  stout  brown  paper  were  well  soaked  in  glue  and  the 
back  of  the  leather  also  glued,  and  the  paper  then  pressed 
well  home,  those  portions  in  relief  should  be  again  pressed 
out  from  the  back  before  the  backing  dries,  as  well  as  the 
leather  being  pressed  down  from  the  front  until  the  required 
relief  be  obtained.  Or  it  might  be  enough  merely  to  glue 
thicknesses  of  paper  on  to  those  portions  in  relief,  well 
working  them  into  the  hollows  ;  though  I  should  say — for 


BOOKBINDING  AND  LEATHER    WORK. 


I  have  not  yet  put  it  to  the  test  of  actual  experiment  —that 
the  effect  could  be  carried  further  if  you  had  the  paper  all 
over  the  back,  as  there  would  then  be  so  much  more  sub- 
stance to  manipulate.  The  leather  might  be  incised,  and 
treated  in  much  the  same  way  as  I  have  already 
described ;  though,  from  what  I  remember,  the  Spanish 
leathers  are  blind-tooled  in  front.  Of  course  the  work 
should  be  freer  and  the  designs  bolder  than  in  a  book  cover. 

As  regards  the 
colouring,  two  plans 
can  be  adopted  :  to 
dye  or  stain  the 
leather,  or  paint  it 
solidly  in  ordinary  oil 
colour.  The  former 
plan  is  certainly  the 
better  adapted  to  the 
material,  as  it  seems 
a  pity  to  loose  the 
surface  of  the  leather, 
which  you  do  if  you 
paint  it,  though  this 
was  the  plan  adopted 

in  the  old  Spanish  leathers.  The  transparent  colours  used 
by  artists  could  be  employed,  thinned  with  turpentine,  to 
which  is  added  a  very  little  hard  dry  varnish,  such  as  amber 
or  copal.  Prussian  blue,  cobalt  green,  terre  verte,  viridian, 
gamboge,  raw  and  burnt  sienna,  madder  brown,  Indian 
yellow,  and  golden  ochre  are  among  some  of  the  most 
useful.  If  solid  colours  be  used  they  should  be  mixed 
with  varnish  and  floated  on  freely,  and  not  be  touched 
after  they  have  begun  to  set.      Your   scheme  of  colour, 

I 


7. — Design  for  Wallet.     Decorated 
with  incising  and  embossing. 


114  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

therefore,  must  be  decided  upon,  and  your  manipulation 
must  be  rapid/as  when  these  varnish  colours  get  tacky,  it  is 
almost  impossible  to'use  them.  Semi-solid  colour  could  be 
introduced  in  spots,  say  the  flowers  of  a  design,  or  in  the 
one  I  give.  No.  78,  the  bird,  animals,  snake,  and  frog  could 
be  slightly  heightened  "with  white  or  cream  used  trans- 
parently. The  leaves  could  be  in  rich  varied  greens,  made 
of  Prussian  blue,  raw  sienna,  golden  ochre,  gamboge,  or 
Indian  yellow,  in  varying  proportions,  and  the  stems  in 
madder  brown. 

The  animals  ^should  be  in  high  relief,  and  the  leaves 
might  be  incised  at  the  edges,  while  the  stems  and  ribs 
down  centre  of  each  leaf  could  be  tooled  on.  The  back- 
ground could  have  its  surface  broken  up  by  being  punched 
over  with  disc  punches ;  and  they  should  not  be  as  small  as 
those  used  on  a  book  cover,  as  the  surface  to  be  decorated 
is  so  much  greater.  The  foliage  part  of  the  design,  as  will 
be  noticed,  is  an  ornamental  treatment  of  a  tree  planned  as 
a  series  of  scrolls,  and  could  be  continued  indefinitely.  A 
dado  of  a  library  or  smoking  room  would  look  very  rich 
decorated  with  leathers  ;  so,  too,  would  a  screen.  A  design 
planned  to  repeat  in  much  the  same  way  as  a  wall-paper 
does,  or  as  the  old  Spanish  leathers  did,  would  be  suitable^ 
as  it  materially  lessens  the  work  of  having  to  sketch  each 
section  separately. 

In  some  examples  of  coloured  leather  I  saw 'at  a  friend's 
house  the  pigment  was  partially  wiped  off,  and  the  warm 
yellow  of  the  cowhide  showing  through  produced  a  very 
rich  and  harmonious  effect. 

There  is  plenty  of  room  for  experiments  in  colouring 
leather,  as  the  Screen  No.  69  shown  at  the  Paris  Exhi- 
bition evidences,  for  here  we  have  a  work  in  which  tooling,. 


BOOKBINDING  AND  LEATHER    WORK.  115 


No.  78, — Suggested  design  for  embossed  leather  Wall  Hangings.  The 
dotted  lines  show  where  the  joins  might  be  made.  The  animal 
forms  to  be  in  relief.  This  design  could  also  be  treated  in  poker 
work. 


ii6  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

embossing  and  colouring  are  blended.  The  effect  of  the 
boats  on  the  water  is  highly  pictorial,  and  yet  the  material 
itself  is  considered,  as  the  clouds  have  a  blind  tooled  outline 
and  the  water  is  treated  ornamentally. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  leather  to  be  coloured 
should  be  light,  as  then  the  colouring  can  be  semi-trans- 
parent so  that  the  surface  on  which  you  work  plays  its  part 
in  the  finished  effect. 

Of  other  methods  of  colouring  mention  may  be  made  of 
applying  colour  to  the  under-surface  of  vellum,  which,  being 
semi-transparent,  allows  of  the  colouring  being  seen 
through  the  vellum. 

With  the  three  processes  of  "  tooling,"  "  incising  "  and 
*•  embossing,"  either  employed  singly  or  in  combination, 
the  craftsman  has  great  resources  at  command,  and  a  very 
varied  class  of  effects  are  within  his  reach.  I  should  have 
no  hesitation  in  using  all  three  in  the  same  piece  of  work, 
so  long  as  you  keep  within  your  means  and  make  no 
attempt  at  imitating  one  kind  of  work  in  another  medium. 
The  material  one  works  in  should  be  highly  prized  and  the 
utmost  value  given  to  it,  else  what  is  the  use  of  working  in 
leather  if,  when  our  work  is  finished,  all  trace  of  leather  be 
lost  ?  I  imagine  one  uses  leather  as  one  does  other 
materials,  because  if  rightly  used  it  will  yield  a  certain  class 
of  effects  such  as  nothing  else  will  give  us.  It  was  this 
consideration  that  made  me  advocate  the  employment  of 
dyes  with  transparent  colours  in  tinting  leather,  so  that 
even  here  the  surface  of  the  leather  shall  not  be  obliterate.!, 
but  made  to  yield  its  quota  to  the  finished  result. 

Coloured  leather  work  should  always  be  well  varnished 
when  finished. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Inlaying   in    Coloured    Woods    and    Stained-Wood 
Decoration. 


T  the  exhibitions  held  in  the  Albert  Hall 
of  the  work  executed  under  the  stimulus 
of  the  Home  Arts  Association  are  to  be 
seen  some  clever  and  original  designs 
carried  out  in  coloured  wood  inlays, 
showing  that  those  responsible  for  the 
treatment  had  stepped  out  of  the  groove,  and  by  thus 
breaking  away  from  tradition  had  obtained  some  novel  and 
striking  effects.  I  shall  in  the  space  at  my  disposal  take  a 
brief  survey  of  the  craft  of  the  inlayer  and  marquetry 
cutter,  and  by  directing  the  reader's  attention  to  some  of 
the  methods  that  may  be  followed,  open  up  to  him  fresh 
possibilities,  and,  I  hope,  start  his  mind  on  a  new  track. 

An  important  consideration  in  studying  any  branch  of 
work  is  to  approach  it  with  an  open  mind.  In  Gilbert's 
''  Trial  by  Jury,"  the  judge's  refrain  is  '*  from  bias  free  of 
every  kind  " ;  and  the  designer  can  with  advantage  take 
this  charge  to  heart,  for  the  first  thing  one  has  to  do  in 


ii8 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 


making  an  original  effort  is  to  forget,  or  banish  for  the 
while,  all  the  familiar  devices  and  well-worn  ways — to 
disinfect,  as  it  were,  one's  mind,  and  then  there  is  some 
chance  of  it  acting  with  freshness,  and  doing  something 
that  has  not  been  done  before  in  quite  the  same  way ;  for, 

of  course,  we  all  know 
there  is  nothing  new 
under  the  sun.  To  be 
one's  self,  to  act  spon- 
taneously from  one's 
own  initiative,  and  free 
from  self-consciousness, 
so  that  one  gives  ex- 
pression to  what  is 
within — one's  ego^  in 
fact — is  to  be  original,  I 
take  it,  and  therefore 
style  is  individuality,  the 
expression  of  one's  self. 
Some  critics  have  cen- 
sured me  for  advocating 
a  doctrine  with  such 
insistence,  because  there 
will  be  no  "  style "  in 
work  done  under  such  a 
controlling  idea,  they 
say.  I  fail  to  see  what  these  critics  mean,  for  if  a  man 
doesn't  give  himself  in  his  work,  what  does  he  give  ?  The 
personal  note  is  everything,  the  one  quality  which  makes 
one's  work  live  and  interest  other  people.  The  fol- 
lowing of  tradition — the  being  trammelled  at  the  start  by 


No.  79. — ^Wood  Inlay,  by  the  Pim- 
lico  Class,  under  the  Hon.  Mrs. 
Carpenter. 


INLA  VING. 


119 


No.  80. — Wardrobe  by  Messis.  Majovelle  Freres,  showing  naturalesque 
inlay  and  carving.     (In  the  Paris  E>:hibition,  iqoa.) 


120 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS, 


what  has  been  done — paralyses  the  worker,  and  in  thus 
being  but  a  shadow  of  some  one  stronger  than  one's  self  is 
always  to  be  behind. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enunciate  such  a  truism  that  we  are 
all  the  result  of  what  has  gone  before,  for  w^hat  we  have 
seen  and  studied  passes  into  our  being,  becoming  part  of 
our  mental  fibre,  and,  whether  we  will  or  not,  it  is  bound  to 
find  expression  in  any  effort  towards  originality  we  make ; 
but  that  is  not  the  same  thing  as  putting  on  some  other 
worker's  glasses,  and  seeing  everything  as  he  saw  it.     If  we 


No.  8 1.— Ornamental  repeating  Border  in  which  nature  is  only 
hinted  at,  no  one  plant  being  taken,  but  suggestions  from 
many.  The  seed-pods  and  flowers  are  modelled  (  n  the  Colum- 
bine, but  the  ornamental  planning  of  the  design  is  the  tirst 
consideration. 


are  going  to  make  an  original  effort  (not  quite  the  same 
thing,  by  the  way,  as  being  original)  we  must  forget  what 
has  been  done,  we  must  leave  the  well-worn  path  and  strike 
into  the  unknown.  Whether  that  will  bring  us  to  our  goal 
is  another  matter;  but  many  of  us  are  willing  to  forego 
what  the  Academicians  call  style  (which  I  take  to  mean  the 
falling  into  a  certain  definite  groove,  so  that  we  can  be 


INLAYING.  121 

pigeon-holed  in  the  critics'  mental  bureau)  for  the  sake  of 
individuality. 

In  the  craft  of  the  inlay er,  for  instance,  one  cannot, 
unfortunately,  forget  the  dozens  of  well-known  patterns 
which  one  has  seen  let  into  furniture.  This  traditional  art, 
with  its  well-recognised  formulae,  shackles  us,  preventing  all 
free  movement ;  and  even  the  French,  who  are  more  hide- 
bound by  tradition  than  we  are,  are  beginning  to  see  that 
this  is  fatal  to  progress  and  virility.     The  consequence  is 


No.  82. — Simple  Border,  founded  on  the  Oak.  Only  the  simplest 
facts  of  the  plant  are  taken,  while  the  stem  is  treated  as  pure  orna- 
ment. 

that  in  the  Paris  Exhibition  some  of  the  most  interesting 
departures  are  to  be  found  in  that  group  of  French  crafts- 
men who  have  gone  so  far  as  to  quit  Paris  and  settle  in  tlie 
provinces.  The  Wardrobe,  No.  80,  is  an  example  of  the 
new  spirit  that  is  abroad,  and  those  readers  who  did  not  go 
to  the  Exhibition  itself  should  refer  to  the  Extra  Paris 
Number  of  The  Art  Journal,  in  which  examples  of  the 
modern  movement  on  the  Continent  may  be  seen. 

In  some  designs.  No.  81  for  instance,  I  purposely  work 
on  traditional  lines,  because  I  wish  to  give  the  student  as 
wide  a  choice  of  subject  as  possible ;  but  where  I  do  so,  I 


122  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

try  to  import  certain  personal  touches  into  the  scheme 
though  I  must  admit  I  find  it  very  difficult  to  do  this  where 
the  motifs  are  so  well  known  as  in  this  so-called  French 
Renaissance  work. 

Professional  designers  are  too  often  compelled  to  do 
work  in  the  style  of  such-and-such  a  period,  because, 
having  to  earn  their  living,  they  have  no  choice  but  to  do 
what  they  are  paid  for  doing  ;  but  I  think  I  am  speaking 
for  most  of  them  when  I  say  that  they  would  far  prefer 
being  asked  to  make  an  "  original "  design,  freshness  of 
treatment  being  the  only  condition  imposed.     The  amateur 


No.  83. — Continuous  Border  of  conventionalised  plant  and  insect 
forms.  The  leaf  stems  are  made  into  an  ornamental  feature.  The 
insects  might  be  formed  of  mother-of-pearl  or  ivory. 

craftsman  is  under  no  obligation  to  work  in  a  particular 
groove,  but  can  give  rein  to  his  fancy  and  do  just  as  it 
dictates ;  and  I  can  only  hope  that  some  of  my  strivings, 
where  I  have  imposed  no  artificial  conditions,  will  act  as  a 
stimulus  when  my  readers  essay  something  original ;  for 
the  best  use  they  can  put  my  designs  to,  is  to  use  them  as 
data  or  notes,  and  not  as  dogmas. 

In  designing  inlays,  the  first  thing  to  remember  is  the 
method  of  reproduction.  The  design  is  composed  of  a 
number  of  pieces  which  have  to  be  cut  out  of  very  thin 


INLAYING.  123 

wood  (veneers)  and  let  into  the  surface  to  be  decorated.  A 
certain  simplicity,  even  severity,  should  characterise  our 
design.  We  must  think  of  everything  as  a  shape,  as  a 
silhouette  in  fact,  and  not  as  a  transcript  of  nature.  A 
certain  ingenuity,  therefore,  should  be  displayed  in  the  way 
we  combine  our  forms,  seeing  that  there  is  no  chance  given 
us  of  showing  our  skill  in  giving  a  ''  true  and  faithful  1 
coppie  "  of  the  natural  form,  such  as  can  be  exhibited  by  the 
painter.  Nature  can  be  taken,  indeed  must  be  taken,  as 
our  guide  and  stimulus,  but  we  must  allow  our  fancy  and 
ingenuity  free  play,  and  above  all  we  must  be  restrained  by 


No.  84.— Simple  continuous  Border,  in  which  the  stems  are  made  the 
leading  feature,  nature  being  only  distantly  suggested  in  the 
"  fruit  "  and  "  leaves." 


the  limitations  imposed  on  us  by  our  craft.  We  can  take 
the  utmost  Hcence  with  nature,  twist  a  stem  into  a  zigzag, 
continuous  scroll,  or  other  geometrical  device,  develop  a 
tendril  or  a  leaf-stem  until  it  becomes  a  purely  ornamental 
feature,  take  what  we  want,  and  leave  out  what  we  do  not 
want  of  the  plant  form  selected  as  the  basis  of  our  design  ; 
and  accordingly  as  we  do  this  with  fitness,  ingenuity, 
balance,  suitability  to  method  of  reproduction,  to  that 
extent  shall  we  be  successful. 

The  amateur  must  remember  that  designing  is  not  taking  a 
natural  form  and  reproducing  it  in  a  certain  conventional 


124  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS, 

way,  but  is  developing  ideas  suggested  by  nature,  and 
carrying  them  out  harmoniously.  The  final  result  may 
bear  so  distant  a  resemblance  to  the  natural  form  as  to  be 
recognised  only  by  ourselves.  One  might  with  advanta^se 
remember  Rubinstein's  aphorism  that  "  grapes  are  nature, 
but  wine  is  art."  Our  design  can  bear  the  same  relationship 
to  nature  as  champagne  does  to  the  grape,  which  is  some- 
times a  very  distant  one.  As  I  shall  give  a  brief  description 
of  each  design,  we  will  pass  on  to  the  technical  considera- 
tion of  inlaying. 

Those  amateurs  taking  up  the  craft  would  do  well  to  get 


No.  85. — Border  formed  of  two  repeating  fish-like  forms;    at  the  top 
and  bottom  are  borders  of  "waves." 


half-a-dozen  lessons  of  a  cabinet-maker  used  to  inlaying ; 
for  in  large  firms  some  men  are  kept  for  nothing  else, 
though  most  good  cabinet  -  makers  understand  simple 
inlaying.  It  is  possible  to  obtain  the  most  beautiful 
coloured  effects  by  inlaying,  as  we  can  use  any  material, 
from  wood,  in  its  infinite  variety  ot  colours,  to  mother-of- 
pearl,  ivory,  and  metals.  I  have  seen  some  quaint  effects 
produced  by  inlaying  light  oak  with  pewter,  while  some 
refined  and  beautiful  ones  have  been  produced  by  using 
engraved  ivory,  especially  for  the  class  of  design  seen  in 
No.  91,  as  details  can  be  engraved  on  the  ivory,  and  these 


INLAYING,  125 

engraved  lines  filled  in  with  black.  Where  a  design  is 
carried  out  in  two  or  three  woods  of  similar  tones,  say- 
yellow  brown,  variety  can  be  given  by  using  the  wood  of 
the  inlays  in  various  directions.  A  good  deal  of  the 
seventeenth-century  Dutch  inlaid  furniture  (marquetry)  is 
wrought  in  two  or  three  woods,  varying  from  yellow  to 
browns,  so  that  the  general  effect  is  a  harmony  in  browns. 

There  are  two  points  to  be  observed  in  inlaying :  to  cut 
the  pieces  accurately  to  fit  into  the  recesses  made  for  them, 
and  to  thoroughly  glue  them  in  with  fresh,  strong,  boiling 


No.  86. — Border,  which  can  be  repeated  ad  lib.,  of  alternate  plant  and 
animal  forms.  These  latter  could  be  varied  so  that  no  two  were 
alike,  while  the  foliage  portion  is  the  same  in  each  section. 


hot  glue,  SO  that  there  is  no  danger  of  the  inlays  coming 
out ;  a  weight  should  be  kept  upon  them  until  the  work  is 
dry.  In  patterns  repeated  a  number  of  times  the  design 
should  be  transferred  to  the  wood  by  marking  it  over 
carbon  paper  with  a  hard-point,  and  also  on  the  inlays 
themselves  from  the  same  tracing,  as  this  will  tend  to  insure 
accuracy ;  but  care  must  be  exercised  in  cutting  out  the 
spaces  and  the  inlays,  for  there  is  always  the  danger  of 
departing  from  the  transferred  lines.  Where  light  woods 
are   used,  detail   can   be   put  in  by  engraving,  and  then 


126 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 


rubbing  in  some  dark  colour.     Thus  the  veins  in  leaves  can 
be  indicated  in  this  way ;  but  there  must  be  no  attempt  at 


No.  87. — Design  for  inlaid  Frame ;  the  foliage 
an  ornamental  rendering  of  the  yellow 
flag.  Birds,  like  other  animal  forms,  to 
be  suitable  for  inlays,  must  be  greatly 
simplified,  only  the  bare  facts  bein^ 
hinted  at.  The  bottom  design  is  given  on 
next  page. 

imitating  a  woodcut,  for  I  would  rather 
have  no  engraving  than  too  much. 

The  Japanese,  who  are  very  skilful 
inlayers,  carve  many  of  the  objects  in 
low  relief,  and  then  let  them  in.  I 
think  it  would  be  very  little  more 
trouble,  and  would  give  variety  to  work, 
to  have  some  few  details  in  relief  while 
the  rest  of  the  work  is  flat.  The  berries, 
for  instance,  in  No.  Z^  could  be  in  slight 
relief,  as  could  the  acorns  in  No.  82. 
If  the  work  is  to  be  French-polished, 
then  the  whole  of  the  work  must  be 
kept  flat,  unless  the  worker  could 
trust  himself  to  gluing  in  the  portions 
in  relief  after  the  polishing  is  finished. 
A  perfectly  legitimate'^form  of  wood  decoration,  and  one 


INLA  YING, 


127 


comparatively  easy  to  do,  is  to  reproduce  the  design  by 
staining  the  wood.  Much  of  the  effect  of  inlaying  can  be 
obtained  in  this  way,  though  there  is  no  reason  why 
stained-wood  decoration  should  not  be  developed  on  its 
own  Hnes,  and  not  masquerade  as  something  else.  A  light 
wood  should  be  used,  so  that  the  various  coloured  stains 
will  tell,  which  they  would  not  do  on  a  dark  one. 

The  design  can  be  outlined  with  a  fine  rigger  or  sable 
liner,  or  a  free  working  pen  can  be  used  with  stain  in  lieu  ot 
ink.     An  effective  form  I  have  seen  this  stained  decoration 


take  is  to  put  in  a  background  ot  dark  brown,  using  the 
stain  freely,  so  that  instead  ot  obtaining  a  perfectly  flat 
ground  you  get  a  broken  up  surface,  darker  in  some  places 
than  others.  The  design  of  seaweed  and  sea-horses 
No.  89,  would  be  suitable  for  this  treatment,  as  would 
Nos.  90  and  91.  There  are  several  makes  of  stain  sold, 
among  them  Stephens'.  Transparent  water-colours  could  be 
employed,  so  could  those  in  oil  diluted  with  turpentine  ;  but 
transparent  vvoodstains  better  preserve  the  grain  of  the  wood, 
and  when  French-polished  give  a  very  pleasing  result.  The 
polishing  should  be  done  by  a  professional,  as  few  amateurs 


128  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

get  into  the  knack  of  using  a  rubber,  which  is  the  way  the 
polish  is  put  on,  and  the  decoration  will  be  spoilt  if  the 
polishing  is  badly  done.  All  the  designs  given  could  be 
reproduced  in  staining,  though  certain  modifications  can  be 
made,  as  one  is  not  so  tied  down  where  you  use  a  brush 
and  a  liquid  as  when  you  inlay.  In  the  Wardrobe,  No.  80, 
the  pictorial  effect  is  carried  very  far,  in  fact  the  effect  of  a 
painting  is  arrived  at.  Enormous  skill  is  necessary  to  cut 
and  fit  the  various  coloured  woods  into  so  elaborate  a 
scheme,  and  the  amateur  should  be  content  to  essay  some- 
thing much  more  severely  simple. 

It  now  remains  to  append  a  {^"^  notes  on  the  illustrations 
themselves,  so  I  will  take  them  almost  in  order.  The 
reader  will  understand  that  little  or  no  attempt  is  made  to 
give  the  effect  of  inlaying,  that  being  next  to  an  impossi- 
bility for  one  thing,  and  then  again  my  chief  object  is  to 
give  the  student  suggestions  which  he  must  work  out  for 
himself,  adapting  and  modifying  them  as  circumstances 
demand. 

No.  81  is  very  ornamental  in  character,  the  details  being 
distributed  around  a  waved  line  running  through  the 
border.  All  the  details  are  suggested  by  various  plant 
growths,  the  columbine  being  specially  drawn  upon,  though 
by  no  means  adhered  to,  as  the  entwining  tendril  has  no 
counterpart  in  the  aquilegia. 

This  class  of  work,  in  which  nature  is  suggested  without 
any  particular  plant  being  specified,  should  commend  itself 
to  amateurs,  as  success  is  not  so  difficult  of  attainment  here 
as  it  is  in  the  more  ornamental  styles  of  design. 

No.  82  is  founded  upon  the  oak,  but  only  the  shape  ot 
the  leaves  and  acorns  is  followed,  the  stem  being  treated  as 


INLA  YING.. 


I2<> 


pure  ornament.  In  taking  nature  as  a  basis  it  does  not 
follow  that  a  close  adherence  to  fact  is  obligatory.--  Your 
skill  as  a  designer  is  shown  in  the  way  nature  is  modified 
and  adapted  to  suit  the  work  in  hand.  A  certain  simplicity 
is  a  necessity  of  the  case,  for  our  inlay  is  not  like  a  brush  of 
colour  which  can  be  used 
with  spontaneity  and 
rapidity,  but  is 
hard  and  inflex- 
ible, and  a 


No.  88.— Circular  Border 
formed  .  of  ,  leaves  and 
berries,  the  stems  beinn; 
made  an  important  feature 
of  the  design  ;  nature  is 
only  hinted  at,  and  if  any 
model  can  be  pointed  to, 
it  is  theVirginian  Creeper. 


slow  operation  as  compared  with 
painted  decoration;  therefore  the 
utmost  economy  of  means  should 
be  displayed,  so  that  the  maximum 
of  effect  is  produced  with  the  least 
expenditure  of  time.  This  does 
not  imply  that  the  work  should  be  done  hastily  and 
scamped,  but  that  the  design  should  suit  the  means  of 
reproduction.  In  selecting  the  woods,  arrange  them  so  that 
you  obtain  relief  between  the  different  parts  of  the  design  ; 
a  kind  of  light  and  shade,  as  it  were. 

K 


I30  ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 

No.  83  is  of  simple  character;  but  if  some  choice 
material,  such  as  pearl  shell  or  ivory,  could  be  introduced 
into  the  butterflies,  the  effect  would  be  enhanced.  If  a 
light  wood  be  used  the  worker  could  add  to  his  work,  and 
possibly  to  the  effect  of  the  design,  by  engraving  a  few 
markings  on  the  butterflies,  as  I  have  indicated  on  one  of 
the  insects. 

In  No.  84  I  started  with  the  central  line,  which  forms  a 
series  of  curves,  and  then  I  proceeded  to  fill  out  the  spaces 
with  two  forms,  one  suggested  by  a  seed-pod  and  the  other 
a  triple  leaf;  and  to  add  to  its  ornamental  character  I 
developed  the  stalk,  making  it  entwine  about  the  central 
line,  very  much  as  a  nasturtium  stalk  will.  In  this  border, 
nature,  though  suggested,  is  hinted  at  in  a  very  distant  way, 
no  direct  reference  to  any  one  plant  being  made,  as  was  the 
case  in  No.  82. 

The  border  composed  of  highly  ornamentalised  fish.  No. 
85,  would  look  efl"ective  in  inlay,  and  should  present  no 
special  difficulty  in  carrying  out.  In  using  animal  forms 
for  such  work  nature  must  be  very  much  simplified — merely 
the  generalised  shape  taken,  no  reference  being  made  to 
any  one  fish.  In  the  next  design.  No.  86,  the  animal  forms 
are  treated  as  ornaments,  and  are  so  arranged  as  to  occupy 
the  spaces.  Beginners  must  fight  against  the  tendency  of 
being  too  natural  in  their  efforts  to  invent  their  own 
patterns.  Think  of  all  objects  as  shapes.  If  it  be  a  bird, 
for  instance,  don't  think  of  feathers  and  colour,  but  of  the 
simple  facts  of  wings,  head  and  beak,  tail  and  feet,  and 
forget  all  else. 

No.  87  shows  the  treatment  of  a  mirror  or  other  frame. 
The  foliage  part  of  the  scheme  is  more  naturalesque  than 
several  of  the  other  designs,  and  is  a  simphfied  rendering  of 


I  NLA  YING, 


131 


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132  ARl    CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

the  yellow  flag.  As  regards  the  colouring,  this  need  not 
be  natural  in  the  sense  of  having  green  leaves.  You  might 
strive  for  a  harmony  in  yellows  and  browns,  getting  the 
necessary  relief  by  opposing  a  light  colour  against  a  darker 
one.  Stained  woods  can  be  purchased  of  veneer  mer- 
chants, and  if  desirable  a  great  variety  of  colour  can  be 
obtained  in  this  way,  but  simple  harmonies  with. the  use 
of  only  a  few  woods  are  to  be  preferred  to  a  more  extended 
palette. 

No.  88  would  do  for  a  border  at  the  edge  of  a  round 
table.  A  distinct  feature  is  made  of  the  entwining  stalks. 
A  harmony  in  reds  and  warm  browns  would  be  suitable  as 
regards  colouring,  taking  autumn  foliage  as  a  guide. 

The  introduction  of  birds,  frogs,  lizards,  insects,  and 
animals  into  inlays,  gives  a  good  deal  of  character  to  work. 
Such  objects,  as  I  have  elsewhere  hinted,  must  be  no  mere 
transcripts  of  nature,  but  they  must  be  designed  as  carefully 
as  the  ornamental  details,  and  treated  as  ornament  rather 
!han  bits  from  nature.  A  feature  is  made  of  animal  forms 
in  No.  90,  and  to  add  to  the  ''  quaintness  "  of  the  effect 
fungi  are  introduced  as  accessories. 

A  good  deal  of  variety  may  be  obtained  by  using  the 
grain  of  the  wood  in  various  directions,  for  the  same  colour 
will  look  quite  different  seen  at  different  angles. 

Seaweed  is  full  of  ornamental  suggestions,  and  though 
many  designers  have  used  it  with  considerable  effect,  this 
order  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  is  too  much  neglected  by 
them.  The  panel.  No.  89,  would  be  very  suitable  for 
stained-wood  decoration,  as  the  background  could  be 
floated  in,  not  evenly  all  over,  but  darker  in  some  places 
than   others.     The   sea-horses    are    very  ornamental  crea- 


INLA  YING. 


^11 


tures,    and   give   variety   and  interest   to   the  rest  of  the 
design. 

Figures  have  alwajs  been  introduced  into  inlays,  and 
when  treated  ornamentally  rather  than  realistically  add 
greatly  to  the  interest  of  a  design.     In  some  cases  boxwood 


No.  91. — Ornamental  Figure  Panel  of  boy  ridmg  on  a  dragon-fly  and 
driving  insects.     This  could  be  reproduced  in  stained  decoration. 


or  ivory  have  been  the  materials  employed,  and  the  details 
have  been  engraved  on,  and  filled  in  with  black.  Of  course 
this  is  an  added  difficulty,  and  should  not  be  attempted  by 
the  tyro  unless  he  feels  capable  of  doing  this  with  some 
success.  In  fact  figures  are  best  avoided  unless  they  are 
adequately  rendered,  as  if  badly  done  they  mar  the  whole 


-134  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

effect.  They  would  present  far  fewer  difficulties  if  repro- 
duced in  stain,  as  the  outlines  and  details  can  be  put  in 
with  a  pen  or  fine  brush.  As  regards  the  figures  themselves, 
they  should  fit  in  with  the  general  scheme  of  decoration, 
and  really  form  part  of  the  design.  The  French  in  their 
decorations  in  the  last  century  were  very  successful  in 
introducing  children  or  cupids  into  their  designs,  one  reason 
being  that  they  are  rendered  with  comparative  ease  as  com- 
pared with  figures  of  adults  ;  such  motifs^  too,  look  graceful 
and  fanciful  in  the  bargain.  They  are  certainly  more  within 
the  scope  of  amateurs  than  "  grown-ups."  That  class  of 
design,  grouped  under  the  name  "  Renaissance,"  has  much 
in  it  that  a  designer  can  study  with  profit,  for  it  is  full 
of  ingenuity  and  is  usually  very  well  planned,  with  a  nice 
sense  of  balance  and  proportion.  The  objection  I  have  to 
it  as  a  source  of  inspiration,  is  that  it  is  exceedingly 
difficult  to  be  individual  where  all  the  viotifs  are  so  well 
known— even  hackneyed.  In  the  one.  No.  91,  there  is  no 
such  trammelling,  and  if  the  insects  could  be  put  in  with 
pearl  shel],  and  the  figure  in  white  wood  or  box  on  a 
dark  ground,  a  good  effect  could  be  produced. 

How  little  a  design  on  paper  suggests  the  effect  of 
inlaying  can  be  seen  by  referring  to  Nos.  79  and  80.  In  the 
late  Paris  Exhibition  some  quite  remarkable  works  were 
shown.  Plants  like  the  hemlock  were  treated  as  veneers 
by  skilfully  massing  the  forms  and  only  giving  the  general 
shape  of  the  heads  of  flowers.  The  veneers  used  were 
chiefly  tones  of  brown,  so  that  the  whole  effect  was  a 
beautiful  harmony.  Much  of  this  inlaid  furniture  was 
unpolished  or  only  waxed. 


CHAPTER   Vlir. 

GESSO,    OR   PAINTING   IN    RELIEF,  AND  ALLIED 
PROCESSES. 


KSSO  is  the  name  given  to  a  compobition 
which  can  be  used  while  moist  with  a 
brush  or  other  instrument,  and  loaded  on 
the  surface  to  be  decorated,  in' greater  or 
less  relief.  This  hardens  as  it  dries,  so 
that  when  the  moisture  has  quite  evapo- 
rated the  composition  is  both  durable  and  capable  of  receiv- 
ing colour.  Skill  is  soon  acquired  in  using  gesso,  as  it  can 
be  made  of  the  consistency  of  thick  cream,  so  as  to  come 
freely  from  a  long-haired  brush.  The  worker  can  paint 
gesso  over  gesso  until  considerable  relief  is  obtained,  and 
this  is  the  only  way  any  great  amount  of  relief  can  be 
secured ;  though  it  is  important  to  see  that  the  coat  of 
gesso  below  is  hard  before  putting  more  on,  for  if  the 
composition  be  loaded  on  very  thickly  it  cracks  in  the 
drying.  For  the  decoration  of  wood  gesso  is  admir- 
able, and  it  is  a  great  gain,  as  those  who  try  it  will 
admit,  to  be  able  to  obtain  a  certain  amount  of  relief  in 
painted  decoration.  Not  that  you  wish  in  any  way  to 
imitate  carving,  for  that  should  not  at  all  be  the  aim  of  the 
worker  in  gesso,  but  instead  of  painting  up  your  decoration 


136 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


to  obtain  quality  and  relief,  you  can  easily  develop  the 
design  you  are  working  by  giving  prominence  to  certain 
portions  of  it  by  putting  the  gesso  on  thickly  in  these 
places,  while  certain  parts  of  the  design  can  have  little  or 
none  applied.     As  I  am  chiefly  addressing  amateurs,  I  can 


No.  92.  —  One  of  the  Panels  in  Coloured  Relief,  executed  for  the 
Trocadero  Restaurant.  Designed  by  Gerald  Moira,  Modelled 
by  F.  Lynn  Jenkins. 

fancy  the  question  being  asked,  "  Why  take  the  trouble  to 
obtain  this  relief;  wouldn't  painted  decoration  be  suffi- 
cient?" 

To  that  I  reply:  Relief  is  relief,  and  it  gives  a  very 
different  effect  to  the  design  to  have  it  carried  out  in  low- 
relief  than  if  it  were  merely  painted,  as  no  amount  of  skilful 


GESSO. 


brush-work  can  produce  the  effect  gesso  gives.  A  reference 
to  the  panel,  No.  92,  demonstrates  better  than  words  how 
the  modelling  helps  the  painting.  Furthermore,  an  amateur 
will  find  working  in  gesso  a  fascinating  occupation,  yielding 


I 


T^o.  93.— Two  Gesso  Panels  from  the  Pulpit  of  Teddington  Church. 
Designed  and  executed  by  Mr.  Reginald  Hallward. 


a  more  satisfactory  result  than  can  be  obtained  by  paint 
alone.  He  will  see  his  work  growing  under  his  fingers  (or 
his  brush),  and  by  obtaining  success  (of  a  kind)  at  the 
outset  he  will  be  led  on  to  attempt  more  difficult  effects, 


138 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


and  thus  unconsciously  develop  his  craft.  In  painted 
decoration,  on  the  other  hand,  the  amateur  is  apt  to  find  the 
difficulties  increase  rather  than  diminish  in  carrying  the 
work  as  far  as  is  desirable,  and  there  is  the  likelihood  of 
his  finally  giving  up  in  despair  owing  to  the  condition  of 
muddle  reached  in  his  attempt  to  produce  a  satisfactory  result. 
Gesso,  unlike  paint,  seems  such  a  pleasant  material  to  play 


No.  94. — Decorated  Writing  Cabinet,  the  front  to  be  made 
to  let  down.  The  design  is  a  free  treatment  of  some 
flowering  shrub,  though  no  direct  reference  to  any  one 
plant  is  made.  As  will  be  noticed,  the  stems  are  made 
an  ornamental  feature. 


with.  You  blob  it  on  and  bring  out  your  design  by  getting 
the  gesso  on  thicker  in  places  as  your  fancy  or  copy 
suggests,  and  you  never  reach  that  state  of  imbecility  which 
is  arrived  at  all  too  soon  by  the  amateur  oil-painter.  I 
recall  my  own  first  efforts  in  the  use  of  oil  colour  and  the 
hopeless  condition  I  soon  got  in.  There  are  few  more 
difficult  things  to  manage  at  the  outset  than  oil  colours — 


GESSO, 


139 


Ruskin  said  it  was  the  most  difficult  of  all  handwork — and 
to  obtain  any  mastery  is  a  matter  of  considerable  practice. 
Gesso  is  like  modelling  in  this  respect,  that  many  an 
amateur  who  cannot  paint  an  object  can  give  an  adequate 
rendering  of  it  in  clay  or  wax,  as  he  can  finger  and  tool  the 
plastic  material  about  until  the  desired  effect  is  obtained. 


No.  95. — Design  for  Coffer,  with  decorated  panel   and  lid. 
For  details  see  No.  96. 


There  are  more  ornamental  possibilities  in  a  craft  like  gesso 
than  in  painting,  as  is  seen  by  carrying  out  the  same  simple 
design  both  in  paint  and  gesso.  It  will  have  a  quality  and 
value  in  the  latter  which  it  cannot  have  in  the  former,  unless  a 
great  deal  more  technical  skill  is  possessed  by  the  painter 
in  oils  than  the  worker  in  gesso,  and  this  quite  apart  from 
the  uses  to  which  gesso  can  be  put  where  painting  would 


140  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

be  of  small  effect.  To  make  this  clear,  take  a  picture  or 
other  frame,  say  of  oak.  We  could,  by  putting  some  simple 
running-pattern  upon  it  in  gesso,  break  up  the  flat  surface 
of  the  frame  agreeably,  and  this  after  very  little  practice  in 
the  use  of  our  new  material ;  but  to  obtain  a  decoration  of 
equal  ornamental  value  in  painting  would  require  a  much 
longer  apprenticeship,  and  then,  however  well  it  might  be 
painted,  it  would  not  he  in  relief,  and  this  alone  makes  gesso  of 
use  as  a  decorative  agent  where  paint  would  be  of  small  service. 
Mr.  Reginald  Hallward,  three  of  whose  gesso  panels  are 
here  reproduced.  No.  93,  uses  plaster  of  Paris  and  fish- 
glue,  and  he  tells  me  that  it  makes  admirable  gesso,  easily 
manipulated  when  warm,  and  drying  veiy  hard.  He  sizes 
the  wood  first,  and  this  can  be  done  with  glue  thinned  down 
with  boiling  water.  Of  course,  the  size  must  be  allowed  to 
dry  before  applying  the  gesso.  Mr.  Hallward,  who  works 
a  good  deal  in  this  material,  tells  me  that  he  relies  upon 
the  brush  almost  entirely.  He  takes  the  gesso  up  in  a 
rather  long-haired  brush  (a  rigger),  and  lets  it  flow  out  on 
to  the  panel,  and  this  gives  a  certain  ''blobby"  quality  to 
the  decoration  which  makes  it  differ  from  stained  plaster  or 
other  work  in  relief  The  worker  merely  repeats  the 
operation  where  he  requires  higher  relief  until  it  is  obtained. 
Of  course,  there  is  a  limit  to  the  amount  of  relief  that 
should  be  attempted,  for  the  worker  must  remember  that  he 
is  not  a  sculptor  carving  a  bas-relief,  but  a  decorator 
painting  in  relief,  and  his  work  should  therefore  be  frankly 
what  it  is,  work  in  gesso,  and  not  a  bastard  sort  of  carving. 
A  material  called  "  Denoline  "  can  be  purchased  in  tins 
which  makes  very  good  gesso,  and  saves  the  trouble  of 
making  a  composition  for  oneself. 


GESSO. 


141 


o  c 

!="    S 

'^    O 


Si 


4J  aO 


d  " 


J^.     o 


v^     0.     (U 


Pox  fcC 


^2  ^ 


O    r-    rt 


142  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

Gesso  can  be  tooled  up  with  sharp  instruments,  and 
scraped  down  and  other^^'ise  manipulated,  and  if  sharpness 
of  contour  is  desired  then  the  knife  can  be  used  freely. 

Where  any  considerable  amount  of  relief  is  desired 
cotton-wool  or  fibre  should  be  soaked  in  the  gesso  and 
stuck  on  the  surface,  and  the  form  built  up  in  this  way,  as 
when  this  foundation  has  dried  more  gesso  can  be  painted 
on  if  a  better  surface  is  required.  The  wool  keeps  the  gesso 
hollow  to  some  extent,  and  there  is  then  no  danger  of  it 
cracking  as  it  dries. 

What  is  known  as  a  "  brush-work  "  design,  such  as  No. 
94,  suits  gesso,  as  by  holding  the  brush  upright  the  gesso 
can  be  made  to  flow  from  it  pretty  freely,  so  that  the 
work  has  a  spontaneous  appearance.  Scrolls,  curves,  and 
continuous  forms  made  up  of  curves,  can  be  rapidly  put 
in  after  a  little  practice.  A  round,  long  camel-hair  pencil, 
not  too  small,  does  well  for  general  work,  as  it  holds  a 
lot  of  gesso,  and  a  good  deal  of  effect  can  be  obtained 
by  just  pressing  on  the  brush  to  spread  the  hair  in  the 
broad  part  of  a  leaf,  and  gradually  lifting  the  brush  up  so 
that  as  the  end  of  the  leaf  is  neared,  the  point  only  is 
used.  The  leaves  on  the  cabinet,  No.  94,  could  be 
produced  by  pressing  on  the  brush  in  the  broad  part,  and 
letting  it  come  to  a  point  at  the  end,  and  where  the  darks 
come  here  the  gesso  could  be  loaded  on  to  give  the  efiect  of 
a  leaf  turned  over.  It  is  difficult  to  describe  in  wTiting  what 
is  meant  by  "  brush-work,"  but  those  who  are  familiar  with 
Japanese  decoration  will  follow  me.  A  Jap  takes  a  full 
brush  of  colour,  and  by  dexterously  pressing  on  the  hair  as 
the  leaf  widens,  he  is  able  to  suggest  the  form  without 
drawing  an  outline.     What  artists  call  accidental  qualities 


GESSO. 


143 


are  obtained  in  this  way,  and  there  is  ahvays  a  greater 
charm  about  that  which  comes  by  a  happy  accident  (though 
it  requires  a  very  skilled  directing  judgment  to  give  the 


PjLUiMU.tl 


No.  97. — Design  for  a  Diaper  of  Ornamental  Moths,  with 
a  filling  of  lines  or  rays.  The  moths  could  be  largely 
reproduced  by  stencilling. 

*'  accident "  its  proper  turn),  than  what  is  the  product  of 
calm  deliberation ;  and  it  is  easy  to  understand  why. 
Work  looks  the  more  life-like  the  more  spontaneous  it  is, 


144  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

and  technical  skill  should  exhibit  itself  in  certainty  ot 
utterance,  so  that  you  have  not  to  resort  to  stippling^  and 
small  dodges  of  that  kind,  to  hide  your  blundering  and 
bungling.  And  apart  from  that  it  is  well  lecognised  by  all 
workers  that  effects  often  come  by  accident  which  cannot  be 
obtained  by  deliberation.  You  must  be  master  of  your 
material  or  it  will  soon  master  you,  and  therefore  a  free 
treatment  will  lead  to  bttter  results  than  purely  painstaking 
effort  where  your  method  of  work  is  revealed  instead  of 
concealed. 

I  have  said  nothing  so  far  about  colouring  gesso,  for,  of 
course,  it  is  not  left  in  its  raw  state.  It  takes  oil  colour 
most  pleasantly,  and  here  again  "  happy  accident "  comes 
to  one's  aid.  Mr.  Reginald  Hallward  gave  me  a  good  tip, 
and  that  is  to  put  the  colour  on,  and  then  wipe  it  partially 
off  by  passing  a  rag  over  the  work,  which  will  remove  the 
colour  in  those  parts  in  highest  relief.  The  colour  can  be 
used  fairly  thinly,  diluted  with  varnish  and  oil,  and  much 
may  be  done  with  transparent  colours.  The  colouring  of 
gesso  is  a  much  less  exacting  task  than  painting,  as  the 
work  in  relief  plays  such  an  important  role  in  the  finished 
result.  Those  who  are  not  accomplished  oil  painters  would 
delight  in  colouring  a  gesso  panel.  You  should  not  wish 
to  lose  the  crispness  of  the  gesso,  and  it  is  obvious,  there- 
fore, that  one  must  avoid  painting  thickly.  At  the  outset 
the  beginner  should  have  a  panel,  and  use  it  for  experi- 
inental  work,  getting  used  to  the  medium  first  of  all,  and 
then  he  can  try  colouring  it  in  various  ways,  and  so  learn 
the  direction  his  efforts  should  take.  Gilding  is  a  help  to 
gesso,  and  vv-ith  a  little  practice  the  amateur  can  get  5ufii- 
ciently  expert  to  be  able  to  use  gold  leaf  with  much  effect 


GESSO. 


M5 


for  touching  iLp  and  accenting  parts  of  the  design.  This  can 
afterwards  be  coloured  with  transparent  colours,  so  that  the 
gold  shows  through.  This  is  a  very  different  business  to 
gilding  a  flat  surface,  which  requires  much  practice  to 
accomplish  successfully.  A 
few  hints  in  gilding  will  be 
found  in  Chapter  XIV. 

As  for  the  uses  to  which 
gesso  can  be  put  as  a  deco- 
rative agent,  so  many  objects 


/  //^-<^-o-^g^r^r-^'^\  \ 


No.  98. — Design  for  a  Stool  or  a  Coal-box,  decorated  with  ornament 
suggested  by  Venetian  work  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  top  and 
sides  (showing  how  the  front  should  be  made  to  let  down)  are  shown. 
Gilding  could  be  introduced  with  considerable  effect. 


suggest  themselves  that  I  had  better  devote  a  little  space  to 
this  subject,  and  it  will  also  afford  me  an  opportunity  of 
saying  something  about  the  illustrations  I  have  drawn  to 
accompany  these  notes.     Let  me  repeat  here,  what  I  have 

L 


i 


1^6  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

had  occasion  to  say  in  former  chapters,  that  these  illus- 
trations must  be  looked  upon  as  pictorial  notes  or  practical 
diagrams,  for  they  in  no  sense  represent  the  effect  of  gesso. 
This  can  only  be  seen  in  the  figure  panels,  which  were 
photographed  from  actual  work. 

No.  94  is  a  small  Cabinet,  the  front  of  which  might  be 
made  to  let  down  to  serve  as  a  writing  slope,  while  the 
inside  could  be  fitted  with  divisions  for  papers,  etc.  The 
decoration  is  a  free  treatment  of  foliage  somewhat  highly 
ornamentalised,  no  particular  reference  to  any  one  plant 
being  made.  The  main  stems  are  developed  into  an 
important  feature,  and  should  be  first  considered,  as  they 
are  the  skeleton  which  is  clothed  by  the  leaves  and  flowers. 
This  design  might  be  worked  on  the  plain  wood  if  it  were 
oak  or  other  choice  wood,  or  it  can  be  wrought  on  pine  and 
the  whole  coloured  white,  and  then  the  design  tinted  in 
colours  used  transparently.  Some  of  the  leaves  might  be  left 
flat  and  others  only  just  touched  with  gesso  ;  others,  again, 
could  be  brought  up  into  higher  relief.  The  gesso,  in  fact, 
should  play  over  the  design  and  not  be  used  the  same 
thickness  everywhere. 

The  Italians,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  used  gesso  largely 
in  the  decoration  of  furniture,  and  coffers  and  linen  chests 
were  among  the  articles  so  decorated.  I  give  a  sketch  in 
No.  95  of  a  Coffer,  the  panels  and  lid  of  which  can  be 
decorated  in  gesso,  and  in  No.  96  three  of  the  panels  are 
shown  on  a  larger  scale,  so  that  the  reader  may  see  clearly 
the  details.  A  certain  uniformity  of  arrangement  should 
run  through  the  panels,  as  they  are  seen  side  by  side,  and  so 
form  one  work,  and  to  that  end  I  have  arranged  the  main 
stem  somewhat  ornamentally  in  the  apple  and  pear  panels. 


GESSO. 


M? 


The.  birds  I  have  introduced  are  not  transcripts  of  nature, 
but  are  slightly  ornamentalised  too  —  made  "  quaint " 
looking,  as  it  would  be  out  of  keeping  with  the  general 
scheme  to  introduce 
birds  treated  quite 
naturally  amid  such 
conventionalised 
surroundings.  The 
middle  panel  is  of  a 
yet  more  ornamental 
character,  so  as  to 
act  as  a  foil  to  those 
on  either  side.  I  had 
some  sort  of  lily  in 
my  mind  when  I 
drew  this,  and  even 
the  ornamental  base 
was  suggested  by  a 
lily  bulb,  but  the 
object  was  to  design 
something  in  har- 
mony with,  and  yet 
in  contrast  to,  the 
foliage  panels,  for 
variety  or  contrast  is 
essential  in  any  well- 
planned  scheme  of 
decoration. 

In  designing  the  apple  and  pear  panels  nature  is  only^ 
made  subservient  to  the  decorator's  wishes.  A  stem,  for 
instance,  might  be  twisted  into  any  shape,   and  one  does 


No.  99. — Panel  founded  upon  the  Sun- 
flower, with  quaint  bird. 


148 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS, 


not  tell  an  untruth  by  twisting  them  as  I  have  done :  for 
the  growth  of  the  leaves  and  fruit  nature  has  been  strictly 
adhered  to,  though  very  much  simplified.  In  colouring  the 
panels  rely  upon  the  gesso  for  much  of  the  effect,  and  that 
dodge  of  wiping  off  the  colour  ought  to  give  a  good  result. 
The  backgrounds  could  be  floated  on  in  transparent  blues, 
getting  it  lighter  towards  the  bottom,  unless  a  good  wood 
such  as  oak  be  used,   and  then  even  the  oak  could   be 


No.  100. — Continuous  Scroll  Design,  suitable  for  decoration  of  a 
frieze  or  frame,  suggested  by  Italian  cinque-cento  work. 


Stained.  The  colouring  must  not  be  thought  of  as  painting 
from  nature,  but  tinting  in  an  agreeable  manner  reliefs,  and 
therefore  to  plan  a  good  harmonious  scheme  of  colour  is 
most  essential.     . 

A  Diaper  like  that  suggested  in  No.  97  could  be  made 
effective  in  gesso.  The  moths  need  not  be  raised  all  over, 
but  the  gesso  could  be  used  to  emphasise  them.  Thus  a 
sort  of  outline  might  be  put  around  the  insects,  and  the 


GESSO, 


149 


ornamentation  of  the  wings    cculd    be    suggested    by  tl:e 
gesso,  as  also  the  ornament  on  the  background.     I  sec  no 


No.  loi. — An  all  over  Repeating  Diaper  Design,  founded  on  the 
Japanese  rose  (Rosa  rugosa).  Certain  features,  such  as  the 
bracts  at  base  of  flower  and  leaf-stalks  and  calyx,  are  ornamen- 
tally developed. 

reason  why  stencilling  should  not  be  resorted  to  in  such  a 
design.     Gesso  would  stencil  in  a  blobby  manner,  which 


ISO  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

would  yield  some  happy  accidental  effects  when  coloured. 
The  moths  could  easily  be  treated  as  stencils  by  cutting  the 
four  wings  separately;  see  Chapter  XII. 

The  ornamentation  on  the  Stool  or  Coal-box,  No.  98, 
was  suggested  by  some  Venetian  furniture  of  the  sixteenth 
century  in  South  Kensington  Museum.  The  actual  making 
of  the  article  need  not  be  costly,  as  its  art  value  could  be 
made  to  depend  upon  the  decoration.  The  idea  was  to 
make  a  combination  stool  and  coal-box — the  utile  with 
the  dulci.  The  colouring  here  could  be  in  tones  of 
brown  and  yellow,  helped  out  mth  gilding.  A  study 
of  sixteenth  century  decorated  furniture  would  here  be 
helpful. 

The  Panel  of  sunflower,  No.  99,  is  conceived  in  much 
the  same  spirit  as  the  panels  in  No.  96.  The  foliage  is 
arranged  to  suit  the  shape  decorated,  and  that  is  about  all 
the  conditions  observed,  except  that  very  little  foreshortening 
(or  drawing  in  perspective)  is  attempted.  This  "  flat  "  way 
of  treating  nature  is  not  necessarily  good  decoration,  as 
some  think,  but  to  draw  in  perspective,  and  still  more  to 
paint  a  foreshortened  form,  is  much  more  difficult  than  to 
treat  the  same  flat.  It  is,  therefore,  better  to  attempt  too  little 
and  succeed  than  be  over-ambitious  and  fail.  Gesso  can  be 
very  helpful  here,  as  these  forms  nearer  the  eye  can  be 
actually  in  relief,  and  the  modelling  can  be  effected  by  the 
gesso  instead  of  by  elaborate  painting.  The  background 
could  be  gold,  or  floated  in  with  transparent  colours,  such 
as  blues  and  greens,  to  give  a  deep  peacock  blue,  mixed 
with  varnish.  The  bird  can  be  in  tones  of  blue,  and  the 
leaves  in  pale  quiet  greens ;  but  it  is  better  to  keep  well 
within  one's  capacity,  and  not  to  attempt  too  much.     Where 


GESSO, 


^S^ 


any  good  wood  is  used,  of  course  this  should  be  valued 
and  left,  only  the  decoration  being  coloured. 


•  at 

N  be 

<u  a3 


Man  will  always  go  back  to  the  past  for  ideas.     What 
was  done  a  century  ago  "  commands  a  respect  and  venera- 


152  ART  CRAFTS.  FOR  AMATEURS. 

tion  to  whicli  no  modern  work  can  pretend,"  and  so  we 
meet  with  quaint  ships  in  decoration.  I  think  the  reason 
such  motifs  are  used  is  that  they  strike  us  as  so  much  more 
pleasing  than  the  present  make  of  such  objects.  The 
modern  ironclad  may  be  a  good  decorative  motif  in  an  age 
when  man  goes  about  in  flying  machines,  or  is  shot  through 
tubes,  as  are  telegrams,  but  at  present  we  prefer  a  galleon  or 
a  galley  to  a  monitor  or  ram.  The  one  in  No.  9,  Chapter  II., 
is  taken  from  a  carved  pulpit  that  was  in  a  City  church  now 
destroyed,  and  is  a  contemporary  portrait  of  a  ship.  Always 
go  first-hand  to  the  fountain-head  of  inspiration,  and  if  you 
elect  to  use  old  motifs,  do  not  work  from  some  modern 
rendering  of  them,  but  turn  back  to  contemporary 
examples. 

The  decoration  of  a  frame  in  gesso  is  so  obviously  a 
capital  way  of  employing  one's  time,  that  it  might  be 
thought  I  ought  to  have  given  more  space  to  such  objects, 
but  it  is  so  easy  to  adapt  designs  for  the  decoration  of 
frames,  that  I  thought  it  better  to  be  as  varied  as  possible 
in  indicating  the  objects  which  might  be  decorated.  The 
design,  No.  100,  comes  under  the  head  of  "scroll-work," 
and  for  that  reason  is  well  fitted  for  displaying  the  qualities 
of  gesso.  The  leaves  can  be  just  heightened  with  the  gesso 
— accented  as  it  were,  rather  than  modelled  in  it.  The 
berries  in  the  fruits,  again,  can  each  be  put  in  in  gesso,  while 
the  "  cup  "  can  be  more  pronounced  than  the  leaves  which 
fill  out  the  space,  so  as  to  give  prominence  to  this  feature  in 
the  design.  Breadth  of  effect  is  obtained  by  giving  promi- 
nence to  some  parts  of  the  design,  while  other  parts  are 
'Uhrown  away,"  or  left.  A  design,  therefore,  which  looks 
somewhat  confused  on  paper,  need  not  necessarily  be  so 


GESSO. 


53 


when  carried  out  full  size,  as  we  can  simplify  it  by  the  way  we 
reproduce  it.  This  remark  applies  with  particular  force  to 
the  all-over  repeating  design  founded  upon  the  wild-rose^ 
No.  loi,  which  looks,  I  am  afraid,  owing  to  its  reduction,  very 
confused.  But  if  the  flowers  and  berries  are  wrought  in  high 
relief,  and  the  stems  and  leaves  little  more  than  outlined  or 
accented  with  gesso,  this  confusion  would,  I  think,  largely 


HRIf^ 

1^'                            ^I^S 



No.  i03.-^Panel  in  fibruu>  j^iaoi.^.i,  hciuic  colouring.  Executed 
for  the  Trocadero  Restaurant  by  Messrs.  Gerald  Moira  and 
F.  Lynn  Jenkins. 


disappear.  Here  again  nature  is  merely  adapted,  and  certain 
features,  such  as  the  bracts  at  base  of  leaves  and  flower-stalks, 
dwelt  upon  and  developed  ornamentally.  In  carrying  out  a 
design  which  has  to  be  repeated  many  times,  stencillirg 
might  be  employed,  together  with  work  by  band.  The 
leaves,  flowers  and  berries  might  be  stencilled,  while  the 
stems  and';Other  details  could  be  painted  on. 


154  ART  CRAFTS   FOR   AMATEURS. 

The  two  figure-panels,  No.  93,  are  reproductions  ot 
three  panels  in  a  pulpit  in  Teddington  Church,  designed 
and  executed  by  Mr.  Reginald  Hall  ward. 

The  material  used  by  moulders  for  the  decoration  of 
picture  frames  is  made  of  whiting  soaked  in  very  diluted 
glue,  gelatine,  boiled  linseed  oil,  and  resin.  To  save  the 
trouble  of  making  it,  most  frame-makers  would  sell  a  would- 
be  worker  some  of  the  composition.  It  must  be  used  while 
moist,  as  nothing  can  be  done  with  it  when  it  dries.  Fine 
mortar,  plaster  of  Paris,  and  diluted  glue  is  another  compo- 
sition used. 

The  Panels,  Nos.  92  and  103,  are  by  Messrs.  Moira 
and  Jenkins,  and  are  portions  of  those  executed  for  the 
<3ecoration  of  the  Trocadero  restaurant.  The  original  is 
wrought  in  fibrous  plaster,  Mr.  Gerald  Moira  being  respon- 
sible for  the  cartoon  and  colouring  and  Mr.  Lynn  Jenkins 
for  the  modelling.  Works  on  a  large  scale  could  not  be 
wrought  in  gesso,  and  so  Mr.  Jenkins  models  the  design  in 
clay,  which  is  then  cast  in  fibrous  plaster.  This  material  is 
plaster  of  Paris  mixed  with  some  fibrous  substance  suchas 
tow,  so  that  the  weight  is  far  less  than  solid  plaster,  and  is, 
therefore,  much  easier  to  fix  in  position.  The  plaster  is 
afterwards  treated  with  size  and  varnigh  to  take  away  its 
porousness ;  it  is  then  in  a  capital  state  to  receive  colour, 
having  a  kind  of  ivory  surface  which  is  choice  in  itself, 
apart  from  the  colour  applied  to  it.  This  ivory  surface  of 
the  plaster  gives  a  quality  ta  the  colour  which  would  be 
wanting  were  it  on  canvas,  and  it  takes,  therefore,  far  less 
time  to  colour  a  plaster  panel  than  to  paint  one,  and  even 
-were  it  as  good  it  would  be  lacking  in  the  sculpturesque- 
ness  of  the  work  in  relief     The  same  holds  good  of  gesso 


GESSO.  155 

and  this  makes  the  colouring  of  it  not  so  exacting  a  task 
as  painting  in  oils.  The  work  of  Messrs.  Moira  and  Jenkins 
is  quite  on  their  own  Hues  as  the  sculptor  and  painter  work 
in  unison,  and  the  "blend"  is  quite  delightful.  The  de- 
coration of  the  P.  and  O.  building  in  the  late  Paris  Exhi- 
bition was  carried  out  by  these  craftsmen. 

The  effect  of  a  panel  before  it  is  painted  is  seen  in 
No.  103.  Casting  is  an  operation  requiring  much  training 
and  practice,  and  sculptors  usually  employ  a  professional 
caster  to  do  their  work.  Of  course,  having  once  got  a 
mould,  any  number  of  castings  can  be  taken,  and  where  a 
design  has  to  be  repeated  this  is  an  advantage. 

Mr.  Anning  Bell  is  another  artist  who  has  won  a  re- 
putation for  his  work  in  relief,  both  in  plaster  and  gesso. 

Miss  E.  M.  Rope's  panel.  No.  49,  Chapter  IV.,  might 
have  been  wrought  in  gesso.  It  shows  what  effect  can  be 
obtained  in  low  relief  without  the  help  o;"  colour.  Such 
a  design  would  come,  perhaps,  better  in  plaster  than  gesso, 
as  the  plaster  can  be  tooled  and  worked  up  much  more 
easily  than  can  gesso,  which  is  harder  and  closer  in  grain. 
Ordinary  plaster  of  Paris  colours  well,  and  Mr.  George 
Frampton  has  executed  some  work  most  satisfactorily  in 
this  material.  Transparent  colours  floated  on  very  thinly 
being  employed  to  colour  the  plaster. 

Such  a  design  as  that  of  Mr.  Stephen  Webb's,  No.  117, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  eminently  suited  to  gesso,  having  that 
sort  of  "  blobby  "  quality  I  have  before  spoken  about. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


FRETWORK:    ITS    POSSIBILITIES    AND 
DEVELOPMENTS. 

HE  exceedingly  jejune  and  trivial  char- 
acter of  the  Fretwork  designs  offered  by 
the  firms  who  cater  for  amateurs,  will 
doubtless  induce  many  readers  to  ex- 
claim "  there  are  no  possibilities  in  fret- 
work, and  it  is  only  fit  for  schoolboys." 
On  the  lines  of  the  ordinary  photo-frame, 
pipe-rack,  and  other  "fancy"  articles  of  fretwork  there 
certainly  appear  to  be  small  possibilities  in  the  craft,  but  this 
is  not  necessarily  the  fault  of  fretwork  itself.  Let  us  see  what 
really  are  its  possibilities ;  to  what  various  uses  it  can  be 
put  in  the  hands  of  a  craftsman. 

A  fret  is  a  form  produced  by  wearing  away,  or  cutting 
away,  some  portions  of  the  material  so  as  to  leave  other  por- 
tions in  relief.  The  parts  removed  are  usually  cut  away  by 
a  band-saw  stretched  in  a  frame  to  keep  it  perfectly  taut,  that 
is  worked  either  with  the  hand  or  fixed  in  a  machine,  which, 
by  means  of  a  treadle,  is  made  to  work  up  and  down  with 
considerable  rapidity.  The  saw  being  very  narrow,  the 
most  intricate  shapes  may  be  cut  out  with  ease,  and  to  reach 
many  of  the  spaces  to  be  cut  away,  it  is  necessary  to  start  by 


FRETWORK. 


157 


gimbleting  a  hole  through  which  the  saw  can  be  passed. 
The  saw,  therefore,  must  be  readily  adjustable,  so  that  the 
upper  end  may  be  passed  through  the  hole  to  enable  it  to 
reach  those  spaces  shut  in,  as  it  were,  and  which  cannot 
otherwise  be  got  at.  A  very  famiUar  form  of  fretwork  are 
the  old  piano- 
fronts,  which  con- 
sist of  elaborate 
geometrical      de- 


mj^\T 


signs, 


but  in   the 


newer  and  better 
pianos  they  are 
now  seldom,  if 
ever  seen.  The 
pattern  was  en- 
tirely produced  by 
the  portions  cut 
away,  though  oc- 
casionally the  oval 
centre  had  a 
moulding  glued  on 
to  it  to  bring  it 
forward. 

Such   works   as 
these     may     be 

termed  pure  frets,  and  though  I  do  not  see  why  fretwork 
cannot  be  considerably  modified  and  developed,  as  I  shall 
hope  to  show  later  on,  mucli  may  be  done,  and  great  variety 
of  design  may  be  obtained,  by  merely  cutting  away  those 
portions  not  required. 

What  one  feels  about  so  many  fretwork  designs  in  the 


No.  104. — Diaper  of  various  shaped  Flowers 
slightly  conventionalised. 


1.58 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS, 


market  is  their  commonplace  uninterestingness.  They  are 
either  geometrically  dull  like  the  piano-fronts,  or  character- 
less Hke  the  photo-frames,  The  geometrical  designs  were 
admirably  adapted,  technically,  to  the  requirements  of  the 
craft,  but  they  showed  no  invention  or  freshness  of  idea.  In 
the  designs  I  have  made  to  illustrate  these  notes  (and  which 

I  am,  therefore, 
perforce  obliged  ta 
allude  to),  I  have 
endeavoured  to 
get  away,  so  far 
as  my  ego  will 
allow,  from  the 
stock  designs,  and 
though  my  readers 
may  not  care  to 
attempt  any  of 
them,  they  may 
set  them  thinking 
and  impulse  them 
to  efforts  in  a 
somewhat  newer 
direction.  And 
this  is,  after  all, 
the  most  useful 
service  designs  drawn  by  another  hand  can  perform  for 
any  craftsman.  The  good  one  receives  by  going  to  a 
museum  is  not  to  copy  what  is  there,  but  to  get  an  impulse 
in  a  new  direction,  to  have  one's  mind  started  on  a  fresh 
track  ;  and  it  is  in  this  spirit  that  I  offer  my  own  efforts  to 
the  reader.     To  call  all  or  any  of  them  original  would  be 


No.  105. — Scroll  Diaper  which  may  be  con- 
tinued to  fit  any  space. 


FRETWORK. 


59 


to  claim  too  much.     I  am  influenced  by  what  I  find  around 
me  just  as  I  hope  those  I  address  are,  and  if  one  really  tries 


r*ri 


No.  1 06.— Design  for  Over- Door. 

to  put  oneself  into  what  one  does,  to  tinge  what  one 
attempts  with  one's  personality,  one  is  original  to  the  extent 
of  the  ego  with  which  one  hall-marks  one's  work. 

A  glance  at  a  piece  of  fretwork  tells  you  that  the  design, 
is  largely  conditioned  by  the  craft.    Great  limitations  are  put 


tRE.T-Vv(01^KL    Ov^R,-^A/ 1  NDOW 


No.  107. — Design   or  Over- Window. 

upon  one,  and  therefore,  in  attempting  original  work,  the 
method  of  reproduction  must  not  for  a  moment  be  lost  sight 


i6o 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


of.  Take  the  flower  diaper,  No,  104.  Here  we  have  a 
simple  fret  consisting  of  forms  suggested  by  flowers  just 
touching  each  other,  for  the  more  we  "  tie  "  the  design 
togedier,  the  less  liability  is  there    to   breakage.       Small 

isolated  forms  are 
very  easily  snapped 
off",  even  in  the 
cutting,  but  we 
protect  them  by 
making  all  pro- 
jecting portions 
touch  each  other 
wherever  possible. 
The  endless  varie- 
ties of  flower-forms 
could  make  such  a 
fret  -  diaper  very 
varied  and  would 
be  a  good  exercise 
in  ingenuity.  I 
started  making  a 
companion  design 
of  leaves  of  various 
shapes,  but  this 
idea  1  will  leave  t  > 
those  ofmyreaders 
to  work  out  who 
are  so  disposed. 
One  can  be  geometrical  in  feeling  without  being  conven- 
tionally so,  and  the  scroll  design,  No.  105,  which  could  be 
continued  ad  lib.,  is  an  illustration  of  this.    If  one  were  filling 


No.  108. — Design  for  Chair-back  and  Arm. 


FRETWORK, 


ibi 


a  definite  space  with  such  a  pattern,  it  would  be  advisable 
first  to  arrange  the  chief  scrolls,  and  then,  when  these  were 
placed  agreeably,  add  the  details,  for  constructive  Hnes  are 
always  the  first  consideration  in  planning  a  pattern. 

The  idea  of  the  over- window  and  over-door,  Nos.  io6  and 
107,  was  suggested  by  two  I  saw  in  the  house  of  a  friend 
who  had  them  cut  out  to  her  own  design. 
So  effective  were  they  (the  design  in  my 
friend's  case  was  Oriental  in  character) 
that  I  cannot  do  better  than  pass  the  idea 
on  to  my  readers.  The  over-door  can 
have  a  shelf  at  the  top,  with  an  edge  as  I 
have  suggested  upon  which  may  be 
placed  old  china,  while  below  and  inside 
the  fret  a  curtain  may  be  hung.  Unless 
the  door  opens  the  reverse  way,  the 
fretwork  must  not  come  too  low  so  as 
to  interfere  with  the  opening  of  the  door. 
The  tulip  suggested  the  design.  In  the 
position  an  over-door  would  occupy  a 
bold  design  is  essential,  as  a  "  small  " 
finicking  one  would  be  quite  out  of  keep- 
ing at  such  a  height  from  the  ground. 
Eastern  diapers,  by  the  way,  would  be 
well  worth  studying  in  connection  with 
fretwork.  Much  "occidental"  decoration  is  in  the  nature 
of  a  fret  glued  on  to  a  ground,  the  fret  afterwards  being 
coloured  and  gilded. 

The  chairback,  No.  108  was  suggested  by  one  exhibited 
some  ten  years  ago  by  "  The  Century  Guild,"  at  the 
Inventories     Exhibition,     designed,     I    believe,    by    Mr. 

M 


\ 

No.  109. — Geome- 
trical fillings 
adapted  from 
Keltic  designs. 


162  ARTS  AND   CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


Y.as^m% 


w:^^"^ 


msk^idA 


^vl 


ir^n^u. 


\^^m 


^    g 

•B 
ti  "So 
o  a 

in   1) 

£  O 
.o  "!1 


-p;  o 

M 

.Id 
<u   tu 

,o 


FRETWORK.  163 

McMurdo.  It  struck  me  on  turning  over  an  article  I  wrote 
for  the  Builder  at  the  time,  that  chairbacks  are  a  capital  use 
to  which  fretwork  may  be  put.  Each  one  might  be  different  in 
•detail,  and  yet,  with  certain  general  traits,  so  as  to  give  the 
appearance  of  oneness  when  the  chairs  are  seen  together. 
The  design  may  almost  be  considered  pure  ornament,  though 
a  lily  was  in  my  mind  when  I  drew  it.  The  arm  is  an  addi- 
tion of  my  own,  but  I  think  it  would  look  very  effective.  It 
would  be  necessary  to  have  chairs  made  specially,  but  if  you 
find  out  a  chairmaker  to  the  trade,  you  can  get  a  good  plain 
chair  made  at  a  very  reasonable  price. 

The  two  geometrical  fillings,  No.  109,  are  taken  from 
Keltic  crosses,  casts  of  which  are  in  South  Kensington 
Museum.  These  early  designers  evinced  a  great  love  of, 
and  considerable  ingenuityfin  evolving  the  most  intricate 
"  strap  "  work  patterns.  I  have  shown  where  the  "  straps  " 
go  over  and  under,  and  it  would  greatly  add  to  the  effect  of 
such  a  fret  to  slightly  lower,  with  a  flat  chisel,  the  straps 
passing  under.  This  would  involve  no  difficulty  which  a 
little  practice  could  not  overcome  and  it  would  be  develop- 
ing fretwork  in  a  perfectly  legitimate  way.  If  these  two 
designs  be  cut  as  simple  frets  much  of  the  effect  will  be  lost, 
as  the  "  under  and  over  "  nature  of  these  Keltic  designs  is 
their  distinctive  feature.  It  would  be  a  good  exercise  in 
ingenuity  to  try  and  evolve  fresh  combinations  in  this 
direction. 

It  is  sometimes  necessary  to  use  the  same  plants  again 
and  again  in  design.  The  grape  in  No.  no  is  a  case  in 
point.  It  is  a  plant  which  fulfils  all  a  designer's  requirements, 
and  will  continue  to  be  employed  for  decorative  purposes  as 
much  in  the  future  as  it  has  been  in  the  past.     The  trellis 


[64 


ARTS  AND   CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 


FRETWORK, 


t65 


work  gives  character  as  well  as  supports  the  designs,  and  to 
show  more  distinctly  the  floral  portion  I  have  left  the  trellis 
white.  At  an  artist  friend's  house  I  saw  the  top  portion  of 
a  recess  which  he  had  filled  with  shelves,  occupied  with 
upright  lattices,  forming  a  receptacle  for  canvasses  and 
other  artist's  clutter.     It  occurred  to  me  that  to  add  a  fret 


No.  112. — Design  for  sides  of  Portfolio  suggested  by  the  Peacock. 


to  these  lattices  would  be  a  very  attractive  feature  in  a  room. 
The  grape  portion  might  be  cut  out  of  pine,  and  then  the 
lattices,  say  of  mahogany,  might  be  glued  on  to  the  back  or 
front,  or  if  the  design  be  cut  out  all  in  one  piece,  then  I  see 
no  reason  why  the  grape  portion  should  not  be  stained,  the 
leaves  in  green,  the  stems  in  brown,  and  grapes  in  purple. 


1 66 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


Transparent  oil-colours,  such  as  Prussian  blue,  raw  sienna, 
burnt  sienna,  Vandyke  brown,  gamboge,  vermilion  and 
madder  brown,  thinned  down  with  turpentine,  would  do,  or 
you  can  get  liquid  stains.  Such  a  design  as  this  grape  one 
should  be  carried  out  fully  natural  size,  above  rather  than 


I   No.  113. — Design  for  opening  and  closing  Portfolio  Stand  with 
fretwork  sides,  the  detail  of  which  is  seen  in  No.  112. 


below  it.     It  would  be  enough  merely  to  colour  the  bars, 
leaving  the  design  plain. 

A  portfolio  stand  might  be  composed  of  two  fret-cut  sides, 
and  such  a  design  as  the  wild  rose.  No.  in,  would  be  suit- 
able.    The  stem,  as  will  be  noticed,  is  made  a  distinct 


FRETWORK, 


167 


feature,  and  was  the  first 
consideration  in  making 
the  design  as  it  was  in 
the  vine,  the  flowers  and 
leaves  being  to  a  great 
extent    after    considera- 
tions,  or  at    all   events 
dependent  upon  the  dis- 
position   of  the    stems. 
The    design    is   symme- 
trical, which  emphasises 
the  ornamental  character 
given  to  it  by  the  stems. 
On     one    side    I    have 
shown  how  the  effect  can 
be  helped  by  veining  the 
leaves,  etc.,  but  this  vein- 
ing  must  be   kept  very 
simple ;   one   down    the 
centre  of  each  leaf  would 
be    enough.      The    dis- 
position to   become  too 
naturalesque    should   be 
checked,    as    the    orna- 
mental   character    inse- 
parable   from     fretwork 
should  be  preserved,  nay 
developed,  wherever  pos- 
sible,   rather  than  less- 
ened. 

In    No.    112   I    have 


No.  1 14. — Panel  based  on  Sun- 
flower. The  white  lines  show 
where  a  carver's  gouge  could 
be  used  with  advantage. 


i68 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


shown  what  I  consider  the  most  original  design  I  have 
here  attempted.  It  is  based  on  the  peacock,  and  it  occurs 
to  me  that  some  very  effective  designs  might  be  wrought  on 
these  Hnes.  A  design  for  the  stand  for  the  portfoho  is  also 
given  in  No.  T13. 


No.  115. — Cabinet  ornamented  with  frets  laid  on.    In  the  ends  the 
design  is  produced  by  what  is  cut  away. 


A  picturesque  fire-screen  might  be  made  by  hingeing 
together  three  or  four  fretwork  panels.  A  fillet  might  be 
screwed  on  to  the  margin,  to  take  a  sheet  or  sheets  of  glass, 
so  as  to  check  the  heat.  I  have  suggested,  in  Fig.  114,  a 
panel  based  on  the  sunflovver.  Here  again  the  lattice  work 
is  introduced  to  give  strength  and  character  to  the  design. 


FRETWORK, 


T69 


In  sketching  the  design  this  should  be  indicated  before  the 
floral  part  is  finally  decided  upon,  so  that  the  forms  may  be 
worked  in  effectively  with  the  lattice.  A  reference  to 
No.  Ill  will  show  that  the  grape  design  (as  well  as  the  sun- 
flower), is  influenced  by  the  lattice  work,  and  if  in  making 
the  design  you  simply  put  the  lattice  in  arbitrarily,  after  the 
floral  part  is  drawn,  some  parts  of  it  will  be  cut  off  in  a 
clumsy  fashion.  In 
the  panel  of  sun- 
flower, I  have  indi- 
cated the  veining  of 
the  leaves  and  the 
details  of  the  flowers, 
which  can  be  done 
by  a  carver's  tool. 
Here  again  the  floral 
part  might  be  stained, 
or  the  lattice  got  out 
of  a  different  wood 
and  put  at  the  back 
of  the  fretwork. 
There  is  no  reason 
why  some  amount  of 
carving  should  not  be 
done  to  fretwork.  Many  of  the  carved  screens,  such  as 
that  in  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  are  fret-cut  as  well  as  carved. 
The  Japanese  introduce  carved  fretwork  into  their  cabinets, 
and  very  effective  and  dainty  it  is.  It  would  help  the  fret 
cutter  in  original  work  to  study  some  of  these  carved  frets 
from  Japan,  and  also  some  of  their  books  of  design,  which 
are  procurable  at  art  booksellers  like  Batsford's  in  Holborn. 


No.  116. — Bird  in  Fretwork.  The 
white  lines  are  given  by  a  gouge, 
but  they  can  be  omitted. 


170  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS, 

The  carved  fret  could  be  glued  down  on  to  a  panel  of  a 
cabinet.  It  need  not  masquerade  as  a  piece  of  pure  carving, 
but  could  be  frankly  shown  to  be  what  it  is — a  fret  laid 
down  upon  a  panel.  I  would  even  recommend  the  fretwork 
being  cut  out,  say  of  light  or  white  wood,  and  laid  down 
on  a  dark  one. 

Another  use  to  which  frets  may  be  put  is  the  ornamen- 


No.  II-.— Fish  panel,  with  background  of  ornamental  water.      The 
markings  on  the  iish  are  given  with  a  carsnng  tool. 

tation  of  a  cabinet,  as  I  have  shown  in  No.  115.  The 
shelves  are  got  out  in  the  usual  way  and  the  cabinet  put 
together  ;  though,  of  course,  the  two  sides  must  be  fret- cut 
before  the  article  is  fixed  up.  In  the  side  indicated  the 
pattern  is  formed,  as  will  be  seen,  by  the  portions  cut  away, 
whereas,  in  most  other  cases,  it  is  by  \hQ  portion  left  that  the 
design  is  produced.  The  Japanese  frequently  adopt  this 
plan  of  cutting  out  the  design  itself,  and  it  would  be  good 


FRETWORK, 


'Lir 


WflCiAN     /icerttorv 


No.  ii8. — ^Portion  of  a  pierced  and  carved  doorway  in  South 
Kensington  Museum. 


172  ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS, 

practice  to  make  positives  of  some  design,  say  the  rose  or 
grape,  and  see  how  they  would  come  if  cut  out  instead  of 
being  left  as  negatives. 

To  return  to  the  cabinet.  The  frets  are  got  out  of,  say, 
^-inch  wood,  and  then  glued  on  to  the  edges  of  the  shelves 
and  sides.  It  seems  to  me  that  a  very  good  effect  might 
be  obtained  by  such  a  treatment  as  that  indicated  in  sketch. 
One  should  always  try  to  employ  one's  labour  to  some  effec- 
tive end,  and  that  is  why  I  endeavour  to  indicate  to  what  uses 
fretwork  can  be  put ;  pipe-racks  and  photo-frames  are  two 
of  the  poorest  uses  to  which  the  craft  can  be  applied  and  do 
little  to  encourage  the  craftsman  to  put  out  his  full  strength. 
So  much  work  amateurs  engage  in  is  directed  to  such  poor 
purposes  that  the  work  itself  ceases  to  interest.  In  one  of 
George  Eliot's  novels  {Felix  Ho/t,  I  think),  ladies'  fancy 
work  is  described  as  innumerable  stitches  taken  to  produce 
what  neither  the  worker  nor  anyone  else  wants,  and  this 
remark  would  apply  with  equal  force  to  much  male  handi- 
work. My  impression  is — a  conclusion  forced  upon  me 
during  the  preparation  of  this  work — that  there  are  many 
more  possibilities  in  fretwork  than  most  of  us  dream  of,  and 
that  it  only  needs  thought  for  the  craft  to  be  capable  of  con- 
siderable development. 

Animal  forms  can  be  rendered  in  fretwork  if  treated  as 
silhouettes.  The  Japanese  cut  out  flying  birds  very  effec- 
tively, but  space  prevents  my  giving  any  original  examples 
of  this  form  of  fret.  In  No.  ii6  the  bird  itself  is  left  and  the 
background  is  formed  of  ornamental  tracery.  The  details 
of  the  bird's  plumage  can  be  engraved  as  I  have  indicated, 
but  in  order  that  the  fret  itself  shall  be  effective,  such  an 
attitude  should  be  chosen  as  displays  as  much  of  the  bird's 


FRETWORK, 


^n 


form  as  possible.    A  reference  to  Japanese  designs  will  be 
very  helpful,  as  their  treatment  of  birds  is  not  only  charac- 
teristic but  highly  orna- 
mental. 

In  the  fish  panel,  No. 
117,  the  details  of  the 
form  certainly  require 
engraving,  for  the  mere 
silhouette  of  the  fish  is 
not  as  interesting  as  the 
bird,  and  needs,  there- 
fore, assisting  with  carv- 
ing. The  background 
is  an  ornamental  ren- 
dering of  water. 

I  spoke  just  now  of 
carving  as  applied  to 
fretwork,  and  I  cannot 
better  illustrate  the  sub- 
ject (No.  118)  than  by 
reproducing  a  small  por- 
tion of  a  carved  and 
pierced  doorway  of  Nor- 
wegian workmanship,  a 
cast  of  which  is  in  South 
Kensington  Museum. 
The  effect  of  this  old 
work  is  intricate,  but 
exceedingly    rich,    and, 

without  slavishly   copy-      No.  119.— Door  Panels,  in  South  Ken- 
sington Museum,  of  French  "strap" 
mg       It,       some       good  work  of  the  sixteenth  century. 


«74  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

suggestions  may  be  derived  from  a  study  of  it.  The 
fantastic  creatures  wrought  into  the  ornamental  foliage  add 
great  interest  to  the  work.  In  some  of  the  Keltic  crosses 
may  be  seen  snake-like  creatures  most  ingeniously  entwined, 
and  wrought  with  the  ornament,  of  which  they  form  an  integral 
part.  Chinese  dragons  and  heraldic  beasts  could  be  adapted 
for  fretwork.  In  this  Norwegian  doorway  there  is  a  fertility 
of  resource  which  evinces  great  decorative  skill.  A  mirror 
frame  treated  on  these  lines  would  be  effective. 

The  example  No.  119  I  have  given  is  one  of  four  door 
panels,  a  cast  of  which  is  in  South  Kensington  museum.  It 
is  an  excellent  example  of  "  strap  work  "  carving,  but  much 
of  the  effect  could  be  obtained  by  fret-cutting  with  carving 
added.  Door  panels  would  look  well  ornamented  in  this 
way  with  frets  glued  on  to  them,  suggested  by  this  stout 
work. 

The  block  was  made  from  a  photograph  of  the  whole  of 
the  door,  one  of  a  series  sold  in  the  museum. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  many  other  designs  in 
this  work,  besides  those  given  in  this  chapter,  could  easily 
be  adapted  for  fret -cutting. 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE  WORK  OF  THE   NEEDLE   AND   DESIGNING 
FOR    SAME. 


EEDLEWORK  is  a  term  ot  wide  appli- 
cation, and  it  is  only  one  aspect  of  the 
craft  that  can  be  touched  on  here,  that 
being  the  designing  and  adaptation  of 
designs  to  suit  reproduction  by  the 
needle.  I  am  perforce  obliged  to  illus- 
trate the  subject  chiefly  with  my  own  drawings,  and  though 
this  may  be  a  disadvantage  in  one  way,  it  has  this  gain,  that 
I  can  better  illustrate  my  meaning  than  could  any  other 
designer. 

The  fault  of  so  much  needlework  is  that  it  is  over-pretty 
and  lacking  character  or  distinction.  One  piece  is  so  like 
another  that  one's  attention  is  very  rarely  arrested.  In  the 
Paris  Exhibition  this  last  year  I  found  the  most  characteris- 
tic work  in  the  exhibits  of  the  lesser-known  countries,  such  as 
Finland,  Lapland,  and  the  Balkan  States.  The  exhibits 
from  the  well-known  European  countries,  including  our  own' 
are  just  what  we  expect  to  find,  and  what  is  so  refreshing  is 
to  see  that  which  comes  as  a  surprise  :  it  is  like  a  new  dish 
to  the  gourmet,  and  gives  one  a  thrill  of  delight. 


76 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


I  rank  needlework  very  high  among  the  arts  that  adorn 
everyday  life.  It  can  be  so  beautiful  in  colour,  and  it  can 
hardly_help  being  delightful  as  work.  The  quality  obtained 
by  stitching  coloured  threads  upon  a  woven  fabric  is  most 


No.  120. — Example  of  Embroidery  modelled  on  an  old  work. 
(Chiswick  School  of  Art  and  Handicrafts.) 


pleasing  to  the  senses,  and  as  dyed  wools  and  silks  yield  a 
rich,  soft  and  varied  palette,  there  is  no  excuse  for  needle- 
work to  be  other  than  a  pleasing  harmony,  and  it  may  be 
much  more  than  this.     Colour  comes  before  design,  for  if 


NEEDLEWORK, 


177 


the  best  design  ever  made  is  badly  coloured — harsh  and 

inharmonious  in  scheme — it  is  of  far  less  worth  than  a  poor 

design    in    which 

colour    plays     its 

proper  role.     But 

there  is  no  reason 

why  design  should 

not  be  wedded  to 

fine  colour. 

Why  is  it  that 
most  old  needle- 
work, even  the 
schoolgirl  s  a  m  - 
piers  which  folk 
have  lately  taken 
to  collect,  is  more 
pleasing  than  the 
work  of  to-day? 
Speaking  off-hand, 
I  should  say  that 
the  older  workers 
were  wholly  con- 
cerned in  skilfully 
carrying  out  a  de- 
sign with  their 
needle,  and,  hav- 
ing but  a  very 
limited  knowledge 
of  art  in  general,  kept  well  within  bounds,  and  did  not  fail 
by  attempting  too  much  :  to  show  that  they  were  clever 
needlewomen  was  enough  for  them, 

N 


No.  12 


Back  of  Chasuble,  17  th  Century. 
A  good  border  could  be  adapted  from 
this  example 


178 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


Our  knowledge  is  infinitely  greater ;  we  can  draw  better, 
possibly  paint  from  nature,  know  much  about  plant  form, 
and  have  many  more  appliances  at  command  and  many 
more  resources  in  the  way  of  wools,  silks,  and  fabrics,  and 
yet,  equipped  thus  well,  we  too  often  produce  a  far  less 
adequate  result  than  the  older  needlewomen  who  worked  so 


No.  122. — Embroidered  Linen  Bedspread,  repeating  design. 
(Messrs.  J.  Harris  &  Sons.) 


much  more  restrictedly.  The  fact  is  we  are  in  danger  of 
being  buried  in  our  materials.  Where  these  are  limited  the 
worker's  resources  are  developed,  and  her  fancy  and  in- 
genuity are  brought  into  play,  and  it  is,  after  all,  these 
mental  qualities  that  give  us  the  interesting  work.  One 
wants  the  imagination  to  be  touched,  and  see  in  the  work 
the  individuality  of  the. worker,  and  not  the  appearance  of 


NEEDLEWORK. 


179 


having  been  wrought  from  a  printed  copy  bought  at  some 
fancy  shop.  This  was  strikingly  shown  in  the  modern 
French  Tapestries,  exhibited  at  the  late  Exhibition,  which 
are  so  skilfully  wrought  as  to  look  like  the  paintings  they 
reproduce.  Yet  a  glance  at  the  magnificent  sixteenth- 
century  work  shown  in  the  Spanish  pavilion  would  show  in 
every  way  much  more  beautiful  works,  and  yet  are  far 
removed  from  the  pictorial  in  the  modern  sense. 

I  have  a  coverlet,  about  a  century  old,  worked  in  crewels 
on  linen.  The  design  is  almost  rude  in  its  unsophistication 
a  wave-like  series  of  scrolls  doing  duty  for  stems,  from  which 
grow,  in  a  quite  childish  way,  leaves,  fruits  and  flowers 


No.  123. — Border  adapted  from  sixteenth -century  German  work. 

that  bear  no  resemblance  to  any  individual  plant.  At  the 
bottom  is  a  rude  representation  of  ground,  with  animals 
skipping  over  the  hills,  the  animals  about  as  well  drawn  as  a 
child  might  do  them.  The  colours  of  the  crewels  are  all 
good,  and  though  age  may  have  mellowed  them  the 
harmony  must  always  have  been  pleasant.  This  old  piece 
of  needlework  is  doubtless  one  of  the  counterpanes  worked 
by  our  great-great-grandmothers,  and  is  universally  admired 
by  those  who  see  it,  and  if  one  analyses  why  this  is  so  I 
think  the  answer  is  that  it  makes  no  pretence  to  be  "school 
of  art,"  but  is  simply  a  piece  of  needlework  in  nice- coloured 


i8o 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


crewels.     Its  very  archaicness,  naievte,  like  the  art  of  primi- 
tive peoples,   is  a  great    charm,  and  in  a  self-conscious, 

analytical  age  any  form 
of  ?^«consciousness  is 
refreshing. 

Some  of  these  quali- 
ties are  seen  in  the  ex- 
ample No.  1 20,  which  ap- 
pears to  be  a  reproduc- 
tion of  an  old  piece  of 
work.  Here  we  have 
the  archaicness  I  men- 
tioned, and,  looked  at 
critically,  it  is  very  weak 
in  design,  the  curves 
being  very  feeble  and 
the  whole  panel  wanting 
in  logical  coherence ; 
yet  I  dare  say  many 
would  prefer  this  ex- 
ample to  those  in  which  a  much  greater  effort  had  been 
made  to  evolve  a  high-class  design. 

It  will  be  gathered  that  I  am  an  opponent  of  prettiness  in 
the  crafts,  especially  in  that  of  the  needle,  for  the  stitches 
themselves,  if  cunningly  done  and  with  nice-coloured 
threads,  will  give  us  all  the  prettiness  we  need.  We  must 
think  of  those  other  qualities,  character,  individuality^ 
naivete,  the  adaptation  of  means  to  end.  Such  a  work  as 
the  Chasuble,  No.  121,  possibly  Sicilian  work  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  is  astonishingly  rich  in  effect.  It  is  a  more 
or  less  traditional  pattern,  as  some  form  of  this  decorated 


No. 


124.— Conventional    Sprig, 
sixteenth-century  work. 


from 


NEEDLEWORK, 


i8] 


scroll  is  constantly  met  with  in  the  work  of  that  period,  and 
the  rich  and  very  varied  colouring  of  the  original  is  barely 
hinted  at  in  the  reproduction.  The  worker,  in  stitching  the 
curious  ornamental  flowers  and  fruit  growing  on  the  wavy 
stem,  would  exhibit  her  skill  in  stitching  and  fancy  in 
colouring  them,  for  all  the  details  being  so  removed  from 
individual  forms  in  nature,  the  worker  would  feel  unfettered 
in  colouring  the  design  and  her  fancy  would  have  rein, 
whereas  had  there  been  a  more  direct  reference  to  nature 
the  worker's  individuality  would  have  been  brought  much 
less  into  play,  and  this  cramping  would  have  been  a  serious 
handicap  both  to  herself  and  her  work. 

This  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of  how  far  natural 
forms  should  be  used  in 
embroidery.  Those  who 
draw  plant  form  much 
from  nature  are  often 
disposed  to  use  their 
studies  too  much  as 
they  find  them  in  their 
note  books.  Having 
made  a  careful  study  of 
a  plant  there  is  the  dis- 
position to  make  im- 
mediate use  of  it  in 
one's  work.  I  am  all 
for  studying  from  na- 
ture, but  I  am  at  the 
same  time  all  too  well 

aware  from  my  own  experiences  as  a  designer,  that  one  is 
apt  to  be  far  too  naturalesque  in  one's  work,  and  instead 


125. — Conventional   Fruit, 
sixteenth -century  work. 


[82 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 


of  making  a  design,  drawing  patterns  ^  one  is  only  slightly 
modifying  plant  form.  It  is  the  ingenuity  we  display  in 
using  the  suggestions  received  from  a  study  of  plant  form 

and  the  v/ay  we  adapt 
^^i^^  Wt/j^K/K^k       what  we  have  learned 

^  by    sketching     from 

nature  that  we  show 
ourselves  capable 
craftsmen. 

Here  a  study  ot 
old  work  is  very  bene- 
ficial as  a  corrective, 
but  not  to  imitate. 
The  reproduction  ot 
old  examples  is  not 
the  way  to  advance, 
and,  moreover,  there 
is  a  great  chance  of 
the  reproduction  be- 
ing faithful  in  the 
letter,  yet  wanting 
in  the  spirit.  William 
Morris,  who  made 
many  designs  for 
needlework,  con- 
trived to  get  a  sugges- 
tion of  nature  with  a 
well-planned  scheme  of  construction,  plus  a  good  deal  of 
ego.  He  owed  much  to  the  past,  for  he  used  the 
woodcuts  in  Gerarde's  Herbal  rather  than  sketches  direct 
from   nature,    because  they   suggested    a   certain   quaint- 


No.  126. — Simple  appliques,  based  on 
well-known  flowers. 


NEEDLEWORK, 


183 


ness  and  singularity.  The  old  woodcutter  had  simplified 
nature,  and  this  saved  Morris  the  trouble  of  so  doing. 

The  border,  No. 
123,  and  the  sprigs, 
Nos.  124  and  125, are 
all  adaptations  of 
German  designs,  and 
are  given  to  show 
what  excellent  ma- 
terial is  to  one's 
hand  in  our  mu- 
seums, and  also  how 
one  can  get  a  sug- 
gestion of  nature  and 
yet  be  far  removed 
indeed  from  being 
naturalistic. 

The  disposition  to 
paint  in  stitches  and 
imitate  nature,  even 
when  fairly  success- 
ful, is  only  a  tour  de 
force,  and  never  can 
lead  to  any  great 
success.  Stitches 
bear  no  resemblance 
to  the  touches  of  a 
brush  of  colour.   The 

stitches  are  in  themselves  such  an  interesting  as  well  as 
integral  part  of  needlework  that  nothing  should  be  done  to 
take  from  them;    on  the  contrary,   we  should   work    to 


No.  127. —  Conventional  Sprigs  for 
applique. 


i84 


ARl    CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


.2 

D 
03 

s 

o 

I 

3 


NEEDLEWORK. 


[85 


display  our  command  over  our  material  and  our  hand- 
cunning,  or  else  why  employ  stitches  to  effect  what  a  touch 
of  the  brush  does  so  much  better? 

The  design  should  always  bear  some  ratio  to  the  surface 


No.  129. — Flying  Birds,  adapted  xor  applique.     The  main  forms  only 
are  suggested  by  stitching. 


to  be  covered  and  the  use  to  which  the  work  is  to  be  put. 
Where  a  curtain  is  generally  seen  in  folds  it  would  be 
inappropriate  to  work  on  it  a  design  that  would  be  spoilt 
by  not  being  seen  as  a  whole.     I  believe,  too,  in  producing 


i86 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 


the  maximum  of  effect  for  the  expenditure  of  time.  Of 
course  there  is  nothing  against  producing  a  highly  wrought 
piece  of  needlework,  and  for  certain  purposes  time  need  not 
be  considered,  though  there  is  never  any  excuse  for  wasting  it. 
There  are  more  calls  on  our  time,  more  things  we  want  to 
do  than  was  the  case  even  half  a  century  ago,  and  so  to 


K) 

p 

1 

BJI^^K^  1 

s 

■^^k^ 
^^^\^ 

^ 

\,..^« — ^>- — ' — """■' 

7d 

■■ 

< 

■ 

^-^ 

i 

I 

No.  T30. — Fish  Forms,  adapted  for  applique.     All  detail  is  avoided, 
only  the  essential  forms  being  indicated. 


produce  the  best  effect  possible  in  the  time  is  what  the 
Zeitgeist  dictates.  Outline  embroidery  in  coarse  crewels  on 
flannel  or  linen  yields  a  very  excellent  effect  for  the  time 
spent  upon  it.  Here  a  well-planned  design  which  agreeably 
covers  the  ground  is  very  important.  It  must  of  necessity 
be  a  repeating  design  if  the  material  is  considerable  in  area, 


NEEDLEWORK, 


[87 


and  those  not  skilful  enough  to  invent  one  for  themselves 

might  try  adapting  a  wall-paper  or  cretonne  design  to  suit 

their  purpose ;  but  as  it  takes  much  longer  to  do  a  stitch 

than  put  on  a  touch 

of  colour  care  must 

be  taken  to  keep  the 

design  simple  rather 

than  elaborate.  This 

will  mean  leaving  out 

a  good  deal   in   the 

design   you   take   to 

adapt. 

The  repeating  de- 
sign, No.  1 2  2,  is  of  the 
wall-paper  order,  and 
covers  the  ground 
very  pleasantly.  The 
forms  are  highly  orna- 
mental, though  we 
feel  they  are  based 
on  plant  form. 


Applique. 

I  have  an  idea 
that  applique  is  not 
sufficiently  used  in 
needlework  in  this 
country ;  on  the  Con- 
tinent it  plays  an  all- 
important  part  in  the 
craft.     It  is  astonish- 


No.  131.— Butterflies  and  Moths  in 
applique.  The  materials  used 
might  be  figured  ones. 


l88  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

ingly  effective  for  the  time  it  takes,  and  there  is  a  solidity  and 
strength  about  it  that  adapts  it  for  covering  large  surfaces  at 
the  smallest  expenditure  of  time.  Sprigs,  animal  or  other 
forms  "powdered"  over  hangings  cut  out  of  nice  materials 
and  appliqued  will  give  a  most  excellent  effect,  and  far  from 
cheap-looking.  The  needlework  should  play  about  the  ap- 
pliques so  that  there  is  a  union  between  the  two.  One  way 
of  covering  wall-hangings  would  be  to  work  the  "  plan,"  i.e.^ 
the  lines  dividing  the  surface  into  spaces,  and  then  applique 
animal  forms  in  the  spaces.  Such  well-known  plants  as  are 
adapted  in  Nos.  126  and  127  would  make  good  appliques 


No.  132.— Interlaced  Strip  Border  of  Keltic  design. 

for  powdering  over  a  large  surface,  and  there  would  be  no 
necessity  to  do  more  than  distribute  such  forms  over  the 
surface.  Cutting  forms  for  appliques  compels  one  to  be 
severe  and  ornamental  as  one  has  the  limitations  of  one's 
work  forced  upon  one.  The  use  of  figured  silks  and 
damask  patterns  gives  good  results,  and  should  be  tried. 
Even  the  greens  for  leaves  might  be  cut  out  of  a  silk 
damask. 

In  a  panel  at  the  Paris  Exhibition,  exhibited  in  the 
Finnish  Court,  the  background  was  composed  of  various 
coloured  silks,  so  cut  out  as  to  give  the  effect  of  water,  hills. 


NEEDLEWORK. 


189. 


and  sky.  Upon  this  a  tree,  the  mountain  ash  with  berries, 
was  appliqued  and  worked,  and  the  effect  of  the  whole  was 
both  original  and  artistic.  In  a  screen,  too,  at  the  Woman's- 
Exhibition,  worked  by 
Frau  Helen  Reutsch, 
great  originality  was 
shown.  The  flower  was 
the  larkspur,  or  delphi- 
nium, no  easy  one  to 
render,  but  by  massing 
the  racemes  of  flowers, 
and  simplifying  them  so 
that  they  could  be  ap- 
pliqued in  "lumps,"  the 
effect  was  striking.  The 
applique  followed  the 
outline,  but  individual 
flowers  were  not  worked, 
as  it  would  only  have 
produced  a  confused 
jumble.  The  leaves  were 
applique'd,  and  by  having 
the  background  of  dif- 
ferent coloured  blues 
going  into  greens,  and 
working  grasses  over  the 
leaves  of  the  larkspur, 
the  design  lost  and 
found  itself  in  the  most 

dehghtful    fashion.     All 
.  .       ,  No.    133. — Interlacing    Strip    Work 

the     resources     of      the  Border  of  Keltic  design. 


190 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


needleworker's  art  were  called  into  play,  and  the  result 
was  as  original  as  it  was  delightful.  The  cutting  up  of 
the  background  greatly  helped  the  effect,  as  it  gave  a  certain 
mystery  to  the  whole  which  touched  the  imagination. 


No.  134. — Interlacing  Border,  suggested  by  Keltic  work. 

It  would  seem  that  many  workers  keep  too  rigidly  to  one 
style  of  stitch  instead  of  bringing  all  kinds  of  stitches  and 
all  sorts  of  devices  into  play.     I  have  seen  painting  on  the 


No.  135. — Border  suggested  by  Keltic  work. 


silk  with  dyes  resorted  to  with  considerable  effect,  and  in 
the  screen  above  mentioned  dyes  were  used  on  the  back- 
ground towards  the  base.     Painting   on   a   woven   fabric 


NEEDLEWORK, 


[QI 


with  dyes  is  much  done  in  France,  and  was  introduced 
into    England    some    years    ago,    and    with    needlework 


No.  136.— Screen  in  Silk  showing  use  of  applique. 
Designed  by  Herr  Ubbelohde. 


to   support  it   can   be   made  to  yield  the  most  excellent 
results. 


[92 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 


Animal  forms  come  well  in  applique,  and  in  Nos.  128,  129 
and  130  some  suggestions  are  given.  Do  not  be  afraid  of 
being  too  severe  in  designing  such  motifs,  for  appliques  are 


IHi 


No.  137. — Intwining  Animal  Grotesques,      From  the  Durrow  bible, 
Sth  Century.     Adapted  for  needlework. 


much  more  effective  when  no  attempt  is  made  to  lose  sight  of 
the  fact  that  they  are  cut  out  and  applied,  than  where  an  effort 
is  made  to  lose  the  hard  edge.  All  tendency  to  be  natural- 
istic should  be  strenuously  resisted. 

The  birds  in  No.  T29  are  rudimentary  in  drawing,  and  this 
is  what  you  want  to  obtain  in  appHques :  all  that  is 
adventitious  is  left  out  and  only  those  features  common  to 
the  type  retained.  They  are  birds  in  the  act  of  flight,  and 
that  is  all  that  is  said,  but  this  is  said  unmistakably.  Fish 
being  naturally  quaint  in  form  lend  themselves  better  than 
animals  to  this  treatment,  as  may  be  seen  in  No.  130. 

Insects  can  be  very  effectively  used,  especially  if  they  are 
cut  out  of  richly-coloured  figured  and  dyed  fabrics,  as  is 
suggested  in  No.  131.  In  the  upper  half  of  this  design  the 
appliques  are  shown  on  a  dark  ground  which  might  be  worked 
with  lines  of  silk  as  hinted  at,  suggestive  of  spiders'  webs. 


NEEDLEWORK.  193 

Keltic  Embroidery. 

The  extraordinary  ingenuity  displayed  in  the  old  Keltic 
designs  makes  them  peculiarly  suitable  for  needlework,  and 
in  some  of  the  embroidery  executed  under  the  direction  of 
the  Donegal  Industrial  Fund  excellent  use  was  made  of  old 
designs,  many  of  them  to  be  found  in  the  Durrow  Bible  of 
the  eighth  century.  The  notable  feature  in  these  Keltic 
patterns  is  the  interlacing  of  a  sort  of  strap-work,  as  shown 
hi  Nos.  132  and  133.  These  patterns  look  very  effective 
worked  in  long  stitches  of  flax  crossed  at  intervals  by 
threads  at  right  angles.  Golden -coloured  flax  on  a  dull  red 
ground  gives  a  fine  harmony.  Flax  is  more  glossy  than 
silk,  and  used  in  long  parallel  stitches  produces  a  rich  and 
brilliant  effect,  and  varies  in  colour  as  the  light  plays 
over  it. 

Endless  variations  can  be  evolved  on  these  lines,  two  of 
which  are  shown  in  Nos.  134  and  135. 

Another  form  Keltic  designs  take  is  the  interweaving  of 
grotesques,  examples  ofwhich  are  given  in  Nos,  137  and  138. 


No.  138. — Intwining  Grotesques,  from  the  Durrow  Bible,  8th  Century. 

We  hardly  find  any  parallel  to  such  patterns  in  any  other 
time  or  country,  and  they  are  so  full  of  decorative  sugges- 
tiveness,  as  well  as  being  wonderfully  ingenious  in  them- 

o 


19+  ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS, 

selves,  that  all  designers  should  give  them  heed.  Worked 
on  a  large  scale  such  borders  as  Nos.  137  and  138  are  very- 
effective.     They  could  easily  be  adapted  for  appliques. 

Another  class  of  needlework  is  that  in  which  braiding  is 
linked  with  stitching.  The  continuous  fish  border,  No.  139^ 
is  an  example,  the  scrolls  and  curves  being  given  by  braid, 
and  the  forms  that  turn  the  braiding  into  fish  worked  in 
stitches.  It  does  not  look  particularly  effective  on  paper, 
but  then  no  needlework  designs  do ;    but  such  a  pattern 


No.   139. — Highly    Conventionalised   Fish   Border,  for   braiding    and 
needlework  or  thread  embroideiy. 


wrought  in  red  and  blue  on  canvas  would  be  characteristic 
in  effect.  On  linen  it  could  be  wrought  in  thread,  and 
instead  of  braid  dark  blue  stitches  could  be  employed, 
while  the  rest  of  the  design  might  be  worked  in  bright  red. 

The  owl  border.  No.  140,  is  similar  in  character,  and  could 
either  be  wrought  in  braiding  and  stitching  or  in  red  and 
blue  thread  on  canvas  or  other  material,  or,  if  on  frieze,  in 
red  and  yellow  flax. 

Burne-Jones  made  many  designs  for  figure  subjects  to  be 


NEEDLEWORK, 


wrought     with     the 
needle,  and  one  frieze 
of     considerable 
length,    "The     Ro- 
maunt  of  the  Rose,' 
worked    by    Mrs. 
Lothian    Bell,    is 
among  the  finest  spe 
cimens     of    rciodern 
needlework    I    have 
seen.       The      scroll 
ornament  and  acces- 
sories were  designed 
by    William    Morris 
The    whole    of    the 
fabric  it  was  wrought 
on  was  covered  with 
stitches,   which  gave 
the    frieze    a    most 
beautiful  quality,  but 
the  time  occupied  in 
executing     it      must 
have  been  very  con- 
siderable.  Still,  with 
such  a  beautiful  de 
sign  to    work,  what- 
ever time  was  spent 
upon  it   brought  an 
ample  return.  Burne- 
Jones,   having  drawn 
so  long  for    stained 


No.  140. — Grotesque  Owl  Border,  to  be 
wrought  in  braiding  and  needlework^ 
or  red  and  blue  thread  on  canvub. 


196 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


glass,  was  peculiarly  fitted  for  designing  for  needlework, 
for  it  is  absurd  to  imitate  pictures  in  embroidery.  Figures 
must  be  drawn  in  a  certain  simple  sculpturesque  way  to 

adapt  them  for  needlework,  and 
the  colouring  must  be  kept 
somewhat  flat  as  though  seen 
in  a  full  subdued  light,  for  any 
strong  effect  of  light  and  shade 
is  not  suitable  to  reproduction 
by  the  needle.  Such  paintings 
as  those  of  Botticelli's  would 
be  more  adapted  for  needle- 
work than  Rubens' s  or  Rem- 
brandt's for  instance. 

The  panel.  No.  141,  designed 
by  Mrs.  Traquair,  recognises 
the  limitations  of  the  needle- 
woman's craft,  and  would  work 
extremely  well.  I  should  say 
much  of  the  background  might 
be  appliqued  with  advantage. 
In  such  a  panel  as  this  all  the 
resources  of  the  craft  might  well 
be  brought  into  play;  full 
stitching,  outline,  applique, 
while  silk,  wool  and  flax  should 
be  employed  in  the  working. 
In  this  way,  by  allowing  one  to  play  into  the  other  as 
well  as  by  combining  various  textiles,  for  the  appliques 
might  be  cut  out  of  both  plain  and  figured  materials  of 
both  silk  and  wool,  a  very  varied  and  subtle  effect  could 


No.  141. — Needlework  Panel 
Designed  by  Mrs.  Traquair. 


NEEDLE  WORK.  1 97 

be  obtained.  The  single  figure  subjects  of  Albert  Moore's 
could  be  well  adapted  for  reproduction  by  the  needle. 

In  working  a  figure  panel  the  flesh  only  need  be  wrought 
all  over ;  the  drapery  and  background  could  be  kept  more 
or  less  in  outline,  or  the  drapery  could  be  an  applique'.  A 
good  deal,  too,  should  be  made  of  the  outline,  and  in  a  face 
it  would  be  enough  to  outline  the  features  and  keep  the 
flesh  tints  flat,  or  almost  so,  for  any  attempt  to  imitate  the 
play  of  colour  easily  obtainable  in  paint  only  shows  how 
inadequate  the  needle  is  to  produce  such  a  result. 

Another  scheme  would  be  to  keep  the  figure  in  No.  141 
in  the  material  employed,  say  linen  or  worsted  canvas, 
outlining  all  forms  with  a  strong  colour,  say  dark  brown, 
working  the  hair  fairly  solid,  while  keeping  the  features  in 
outline.  The  leopard  skin  could  be  worked,  while  much  of 
the  background  should  be  applique'd,  and  this  arrangement 
would  throw  the  figure  into  relief. 

A  second  visit  to  the  Paris  Exhibition  revealed  to  me 
that  for  boldness  and  originality  of  effect,  and  a  certain 
workmanlike  command  of  the  materials,  the  Continent  is 
before  England.  We  are  too  petty,  too  "genteel"  in  our 
needlework.  It  wants  a  touch  of  the  savage  in  it  to  relieve 
it  of  its  suaviness  and  prettiness.  The  main  lines  should 
be  more  emphatic,  more  striking  in  arrangement,  and  the 
details  simpler ;  but  the  subject  is  so  vast  that  space 
prevents  me  touching  further  on  it  here,  although  I  hope 
these  few  hints  may  not  be  without  helpfulness  to  the 
strenuous  worker  with  the  needle. 


CHAPTER   XI. 


ANIMAL   FORMS   IN   DECORATIVE   ART. 


RAFTSMEN  of  the  Renaissance  were 
fond  of  introducing  the  human  form 
into  their  arabesque  designs,  and  they 
were  exceeding  skilful  in  weaving  their 
ornamental  and  figure  motifs  into  pat- 
terns. It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that 
it  is  degrading  nature's  supreme  handi- 
work to  make  a  scroll  or  other  pattern  end  in  a  human  torso 
or  head.  This  I  allow  is  a  question  of  individual  taste,  but 
without  staying  to  argue  the  point  we  will  pass  on  to  con- 
sider the  introduction  of  animal  forms  into  designs,  for  here 
there  can  be  no  feeling  of  repugnance,  as  some  of  us  have 
when  the  human  form  is  made  into  an  ornamental  accessory. 
On  the  contrary,  it  adds  variety  and  interest  to  decorative 
work  to  introduce  animal  forms,  and  it  may  be  worth  while 
to  see  how  we  can  best  use  such  forms  in  our  work.  I  have 
chosen  some  admirable  examples  of  Japanese  drawings  of 
fish,  among  other  illustrations  to  this  chapter,  because  this 
Eastern  Art  is  a  perfect  mine  of  wealth  to  the  decorative 
artist,  upon  which  he  can  draw,  and  from  which  he  can 
learn  so  much  as  to  the  adaptation  and  treatment  of  such 
motifs  in  his  work. 


ANIMAL  FORMS.  199 

The  reason,  it  appears  to  me,  that  Japanese  animal  studies 
are  so  adapted  to  the  requirements  of  the  designer  is  that 


No.  142. — From  a  Japanese  Print,  by  Hokousai. 

Japanese  artists  have  studied  in  the  school  of  nature  with  a 
loving,  sympathetic  intelligence,  and  have  trained  themselves 


200 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS, 


to  see  accurately,  and  record  with  unerring  skill  and  pre- 
cision what  they  see.  They  have  mastered  the  shapes  of 
the  animals  they  delineate :  they  see  them  as  shapes  in  fact ; 
they  draw  from  observation  rather  than  knowledge,  for  it  is 
a  question  whether  they  trouble  about  the  anatomy  of  the 
creatures  they  draw,  or  bother  about  what  is  under  the 
skin.  The  very  precision  with  which  they  record 
their      observations      has     developed     this      faculty     of 

making  shapes  of  all 
things,  and  employ- 
ing but  little  Chiaro- 
osmro^  the  Japanese 
have  become  unerr- 
ing draughtsmen. 

Take,  for  instance, 
their  flying  birds : 
instantaneous  photo- 
graphy has  only 
proved  how  accurate 
the  Japs  are  in  ren- 
dering such  actions, 
and  we  know  this 
was  entirely  the  re- 
sult of  trained  observation,  for  the  most  intimate  know- 
ledge of  anatomy  would  not  have  taught  them  the  set  of  the 
wing  feathers  in  the  act  of  flying.  The  appearance  of  great 
simplicity  only  comes  from  very  thorough  knowledge,  which 
teaches  one  to  leave  out  all  that  is  non-essential,  and  so  we 
find  in  the  best  Japanese  work.  No.  142  for  instance,  that  the 
outline  will  do  everything  in  revealing  form  and  indicating 
movement.     Only  those  who  have  essayed  to  draw  animals 


No.  143. — From  a  Japanese  Print,  by 
Janko. 


ANIMAL  FORMS,  201 

in  movement  from  life  can  appreciate  at  its  full  value  this 
sketch  of  a  fish  by  the  great  Japanese  artist  Hokousai.     The 


No.  144. — A  Barn  Owl  (by  flash-light).    By  Cherry  Kearton. 
From  "With  Nature  and  a  Camera  "  (Cassell  &  Co.,  Ltd.). 


nervous  outline,  the  verve  of  the  curve  of  the  body,  the 
graphic  waviness  of  the  fins  which  indicate  that  the  creature 


202  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

is  swimming,  the  large  spaces  left  plain,  and  the  concentra- 
tion of  the  detail  all  stamp  this  drawing  as  masterly. 

Or  take  No.  143  by  Janko,  which  is  an  excellent  specimen 
of  brush  work  and  could  be  rendered  easily  in  stencilling. 
Every  touch  is  in  the  right  place ;  the  placing  of  the  dark 
and  light  spaces,  how  effective  this  is  :  decorative  truly,  but 
in  the  only  sense  that  this  very  much  abused  word  should 
be  used.  The  word  decorative  with  us  is  too  often  either  a 
term  of  reproach  or  an  excuse  for  insufficiency,  for  what  is 
not  good  enough  to  be  called  pictorial  can  be  made  good 
enough  to  be  thought  decorative.  Decorative  should  mean 
selection  and  adaptation  :  you  select  what  to  record  and 
therefore  what  to  leave  out,  and  you  secure,  as  in  these  two 
Japanese  prints,  what  is  essential,  vital  to  the  delineation  of 
the  subject,  and  you  adapt  your  knowledge  to  the  work  in 
hand,  so  that  if  you  were  carving  a  fish  in  wood  you  would 
treat  it  in  quite  a  different  way  to  what  you  would  if  you 
were  working  it  in  crewels  or  painting  it  on  glass. 

Those  who  can  spare  time  should  sketch  from  life.  The 
sketches  you  make  may  be  poor  enough,  but  the  fact  that 
you  have  deliberately  stopped  to  observe  a  particular  crea- 
ture will  teach  you  more  about  it  than  much  looking  at 
books,  prints  and  photographs.  Not  that  the  latter  are  to 
be  despised,  for  a  characteristic  photo,  such  as  that  of  the 
Barn  Owl  by  Cherry  Kearton,  whose  book  is  a  very  useful 
one  to  the  craftsman,  affords  excellent  rmu  material.  The 
difficulty  comes  in  knowing  what  to  seize  upon  and  what 
to  omit  when  you  work  from  photographs,  for  if  we  compare 
this  snapshot  with  a  Japanese  print  we  see  that  a  good  deal 
in  the  photograph  depends  upon  light  and  shade,  while  in 
such  a  drawing  as  Hokousai's,  No.  142,  there  is  no  light  and 


ANIMAL   FORMS. 


203 


shade,  the  whole  effect  being  obtained  by  pure  drawing.  I 
have  spent  much  time  in  the  Zoological  Gardens,  sketching, 
and  the  result  of  many  a  morning's  work  has  seemed  poor 
enough  at  the  time,  and  yet  one  successful  thumb-nail 
sketch,  however  slight  it  may  be,  has  saved  the  day.  It 
requires  some  practice  to  learn  to  sketch  moving  objects.  I 
found  that  what  one  must  train  one's  self  to  see  is  the  shape 


No.  145. — Trout  Swimming,     From  a  Study  by  E.  F.  T. 
Bennett. 


of  the  creature,  the  shape  depending,  of  course,  upon  the 
action  in  which  you  wish  to  draw  it.  If  you  begin  to  think 
of  details  you  get  nothing  down,  so  bewildering  is  it, 
whereas  by  learning  to  take  in  the  creature  as  a  shape,  then 
the  head,  feet,  body,  and  other  parts  come  in  as  part  of  the 
general  shape,  and  you  will,  after  a  little  practice,  be  able  to 
seize  upon  what  is  essential  and  characteristic  and  make 


204  ARI^  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS, 

very  useful  notes  :  you  mentally  snap-shot  the  animal  in 
this  way.  Charcoal  or  crayon  on  brown  paper  with  white 
chalk  for  the  lights,  I  have  found  to  be  better  for  securing 
rapid  sketches  than  pencil  on  v/hite  paper,  as  the  former 
yields  an  effect  so  much  more  readily  than  the  latter  can. 

The  student  will  find  that  if  he  has  been  used  to  sketch- 
ing birds  only  he  will  feel  quite  strange  when  it  comes  to 
reptiles  or  fish.  Each  department  of  the  animal  kingdom 
requires  learning,  as  it  were,  or  rather  requires  the  eye  to- 
become  accustomed  to  what  it  has  to  take  in.  Fish  are 
wonderfully  ornamental,  but  are  somewhat  difficult  to  sketch 
when  swimming  about.  My  first  experience  of  the  kind 
was  at  an  aquarium,  and  it  was  some  time  before  I  could 
get  anything  down  on  paper,  so  confusing  was  it  to  watch 
the  fish  ever  on  the  move.  I  suppose  I  started  to  sketch 
before  I  had  observed  anything  to  record.  However,  after 
a  couple  of  hours,  I  managed  to  bring  away  some  useful 
data.  Remember  that  for  details  or  colour  you  can  always 
go  to  stuffed  specimens.  What  you  want,  therefore,  in  your 
sketches  from  nature,  is  to  record  movement,  action  and 
the  light  and  shade  necessary  to  reveal  the  main  forms,  and 
by  thus  limiting  what  you  have  to  do,  you  simplify  your 
work  and  bring  it  within  reach  of  human  endeavour. 

Japanese  work  is  so  excellent  because  it  springs  from 
such  intimate  knowledge  of  the  subject  and  is  thus  im- 
pressionistic in  the  highest  sense.  Their  artists  have  almost 
learned  nature  by  heart,  at  any  rate  they  can  repeat  some 
of  her  forms  from  memory,  yet  in  their  best]  work  their 
artists  constantly  refresh  their  minds  by  going  direct  to 
nature,  and  those  who  are  familiar  with  a  Japanese  artist's 
sketches,    direct   from   the   objects   delineated,    are   aware 


ANIMAL  FORMS, 


20S 


j  ^^^ 

^ 

l^v 

_^ 

-V 

jam  ,^^*>^. 

7 

—         ....                              ^HM 

1 

No.  146. — A  Sparrow  Hawk— p.  220  in  "  Camera  Craft,"  by 
Dr.  R.  W.  Shufeldt. 


206 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


that  the  outHne  can  be  made  to  do  what  we  Westerns 
require  light  and  shade  to  effect.  The  Japs  work  always 
in  a  full  light,  which  shows  the  subject  as  a  shape,  while  we, 


iSo.  147. — From  a  Japanese  Print  by  So-Shiseki. 

by  working  so  much  indoors,  have  grown  to  see  objects 
more  as  arrangements  of  light  and  shade  than  as  shapes. 

The  trout  swimming,  No.  145,  is  an  accurately  observed 
movement,  and  though  by  an  EngHshman  is  quite  Japan- 
esque in  its  simplicity  and  restraint. 


ANIMAL   FORMS. 


207 


The  reproduction  of  a  photograph,  No.  146,  one  of  a  series 
by  Dr.  R.  W.  Shufeldt,  is  so  singularly  like  a  Japanese 
painting,  that  I  selected  it  partly  for  this  reason,  as  it  em- 
phasises   what    I 


u-JMJ   I|L]tMi]|       J2  J. 


have  elsewhere 
said  of  the  ac- 
curacy of  the  Japs 
as  observers.  If 
realistic  means 
truth  to  nature, 
then  the  Japs  are 
severe  realists,  and 
yet  many  pass  by 
their  work  with 
the  implied  sneer, 
"only  decora- 
tive"! 

The  work 
known  as  the  One 
Hundred  Birds  (it 
can  be  had  in 
London  in  3  vols., 
price  I  OS.  net),  is 
a  perfect  store- 
house of  material ; 
the  original  draw- 
ings are  now 
shown    at    South 

Kensington.  This  photo  of  Dr.  Shufeldt's  one  would 
think  had  been  inspired  by  one  of  these  one  hundred 
studies.       If  we   glance   through  these   drawings   we   are 


No.  148. — Domestic  Fowl  in  Art,  by  Miss 
C.  L.  Allport.  The  birds  in  this  panel 
show  how  much  may  be  suggested 
by  a  few  lines. 


2o8  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

Struck  by  another  quality,  and  that  is  their  taste  and  judg- 
ment in  placing  their  chief  objects  in  a  design.  I  mention 
this  lest  it  might  be  thought  that  I  ignored  the  artistic 
side  of  Japanese  art,  though  this  branch  of  the  subject 
lies  outside  my  present  purpose,  as  something  will  be 
found  on  it  in  the  chapter  on  decoration,    • 

In'^using  animal  forms  in  any  craft  the  appearance  ot 
being  a  natural  history  study  should  be  most  carefully 
avoided,  and  it  is  for  that  reason  that  I  do  not  counsel 
the  tyro  to  go  to  a  natural  history  for  his  material,  as  it  is 
very  difficult  to  go  to  such  a  source  without  betraying  it  in 
one's  work.  So  many  drawings  in  natural  histories  are 
made  to  look  pretty,  but  if  we  consider  them  critically  we 
shall  find  them  to  be  wanting  in  character;  indeed,  the 
characteristics  of  the  animal  are  too  often  lost  sight  of. 

Turning  once  more  to  Japanese  sources,  we  shall  see 
that,  taking  Nos.  142  and  147  as  a  lesson,  what  is  orna- 
mental in  the  creature  is  dwelt  upon  and  even  emphasised, 
and  in  working  from  such  studies  a  wood  carver  or  deco- 
rator would  have  no  difficulty  in  using  such  material,  while 
he  would  find  much  more  difficulty  in  adapting  a  drawing 
from  a  natural  history.  The  decorative  artist  wants  to 
dwell  upon  and  develop  all  that  is  ornamental  in  the 
animal,  to  look  for  patterns,  as  it  were,  for  in  repousse, 
carving,  gesso,  or  any  work  in  relief,  the  ornamental 
features  can  be  made  so  much  of,  and  if  colour  has  to  be 
left  out,  this  patterning  on  the  creature  must,  to  a  large 
extent,  take  its  place.  Developing,  too,  the  quaint  and 
eccentric  aspect  of  animal  life  gives  character  to  work ;  that 
is  why  such  forms  as  the  John  Dor)^  and  gurnard  in  fish, 
the  owl  and  laughing  jackass  among  birds,   the  rabbit  and 


ANIMAL   FORMS, 


209 


monkey  among  animals,  are  so  often  met  with  in  decorative 

art,  because  of  the  natural  quaintness  of  these  creatures,  or 

their  adaptability  to  a  craftsman's  uses.     A  Japanese  can 

use  any   object, 

and,  by  the  way  I      *^  ■  \      W      ^ 

he  renders  it  and 

selects   what    is 

best  worth  using, 

make  it  look  in 

keeping  with  its 

environment ; 

but  I  had  better 

follow  up  what  I 

have    said   in 

praise     of     this 

Eastern  art  by  a 

word  of  warning. 

Do  not  attempt 

to     imitate     it ; 

learnall  you  can 

from     Japanese 

sources,     but 

work     on    your 

own  lines  so  far 

as  may  be. 

It  is    a  good 
plan  to  practise 

drawing  in  outline  and  deliberately  leave  out  all  details.  The 
drawing  by  C.  L.  Allport,  No.  148,  shows  what  can  be  done  to 
render  form  with  little  else  but  the  outline.  This  kind  of  rudi- 
mentary work  shows  how  far  one  knows  what  one  is  doing, 

p 


No.  149.— The  Owl.  Designed  by  C.  F.  A. 
Voysey.  An  instance  of  how  rudimentary 
a  form  may  be  in  decoration.  (Messrs. 
Essex  &  Co.) 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 


for  it  is  not  difficult  to  hide  one's  shortcomings  under  a 
mass  of  detail,  whereas,  given  in  abstract  as  it  were,  what 

little  there  is 
has  to  be  not 
far  wrong,  or  it 
would  be  mean- 
ingless. Before 
introducing  an 
animal  fo  r  m 
into  a  design 
it  is  a  very  ex- 
cellent plan  to 
make  three  or 
four  sketches^ 
leaving  out  as 
much  as  one 
can  in  each 
sketch  until 
you  get  down 
to  the  elements, 
or  bed  rock. 
The  owls  in 
Mr.  Voysey's 
design, No. 149, 
are  elemental, 
and  this  sort 
of  abstracting 
is  a  good  test 
of  one's  de^ 
corative  instincts,  and  is  far  from  being  the  easy  business  it 
may  appear  to  be  to  a  cursory  observer.     This  method  ol 


No.  150. — Pomegranates  and  Cockatoo.  De- 
signed by  Walter^Crane.  (Messrs.  Jeffrey 
&Co.) 


ANIMAL  FORMS.  211 

making  several  sketches  of  the  same  subject  simplifying 
each  one  by  leaving  out  what  can  be  spared,  is  said  to 
be  practised  by  Mr.  Phil  May,  who  can,  as  we  all  know, 
suggest  with  a  few  strokes  what  most  of  us  require  an 
infinite  number  to  effect.  This  same  faculty  of  selecting 
what  is  necessary  and  rejecting  what  can  be  dispensed 
with,  is  what  a  decorative  artist  should  develope,  and  to 
this  can  be  added  the  faculty  of  making  patterns  and 
shapes  of  all  that  comes  within  his  purview. 

Mr.  Walter  Crane's  use  of  the  cockatoo  in  No.  150  is  less 
elemental,  but  is  far  removed  from  a  natural  history  draw- 
ing, and  shows  treatment  and  selection,  the  blending  of  the 
wings,  and  the  planning  of  the  birds  so  that  they  present 
an  ornamental  shape  in  the  scheme,  fits  them  for  their  place 
in  the  wall-paper,  though  it  is  just  a  question  whether  forms 
so  emphatic,  and  even  naturalistic,  bear  the  repetition  that  a 
wall-paper  exacts.  Mr.  Voysey  makes  his  owls  much  more 
part  of  the  fabric  of  the  design— the  owls  themselves,  as  we 
observed,  are  quite  elemental — and  the  repetition  as  a  result 
becomes  less  tiresome. 

The  illustrations  teach  one  lesson,  at  any  rate,  and  that 
is,  that  between  the  photographs  from  life,  say  No  144,  and 
the  owl  adapted  to  a  decorator's  requirements,  as  in  No. 
149,  there  is  pretty  wide  interval. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


STENCILLING. 


Cutting  and  Designing. 


TENCILLING  is  one  of  the  most  useful 
methods  that  can  be  employed  to  quickly 
ornament  a  flat  surface,  and  as  an 
amateur  can  soon  both  learn  to  cut  and 
use  a  stencil,  I  will  briefly  give  a  few 
hints  on  both  branches  of  the  subject, 
which,  taken  in  connection  with  the  illus- 
trations will,  I  trust,  make  the  method  clear. 

A  stencil  plate  is  a  perforated  sheet  of  metal  or  paper, 
and  to  obtain  an  impression  we  have  only  to  rub  over  the 
cut  out  portions  with  a  stifl"  brush  and  colour,  upon  any  flat 
surface  we  may  lay  the  stencil.  For  all  ordinary  work,  good 
thick  drawing  paper  is  the  best  material  to  cut,  but  I  have 
used  lead  foil,  and  many  stencils  are  cut  out  of  zinc  ;  but 
these  latter  have  to  be  cut  by  a  professional  cutter,  so  we 
will  confine  ourselves  to  paper.  Draw  your  pattern  on  the 
paper,  and  then  with  a  sharp-pointed  knife  cut  through  this 
cleanly  and  at  one  stroke  of  the  knife,  working  upon  a  sheet 
of  glass.     The  reason  for  cutting  on  glass  is  that  the  knife 


STENCILLING.  .  215 


can   purchase  at   a  good   tool    shop  a   blade 
coming  to  a  point,  fixed  in  a  wooden  handle, 


fig- 

I 


slides  over  the  glass  and  enables  you  to  cut  with  one  stroke, 
whereas  if  you  cut  on  wood  or  cardboard  the  knife  is  apt  to 
catch,  which  greatly  adds  to  the  difficulty  of  cutting.     You 

which  is  an  excellent  thing  to  cut  with,  but  the 

small  blade  of  a  penknife  will  do  provided  you 

have  an  oilstone  by  you  to  keep  it  in  condition,     N0T51.— 

for  in  cutting  curves  and  complicated  patterns        ^^owhT 

you  want  the  knife  to  work  easily  and  at  once.  how'ties' 

Tx     •  '  ■■  .  have    to 

Havmg  cut  your  pattern  you  need  to  give        be  left  in 

the  paper  two  coats  of  "knotting."      This  is  a         siich^^^^ 

kind  of  varnish  used  by   house   painters,    and         letter. 

can  be  had  at  any  good  oil  shop.      Lay  the  stencil  on  a 

piece  of  brown  paper  and  rub  the  knotting  on  with  a  flat 

hog-hair  brush,   seeing   that   every  part  of  the  stencil  is 

covered.     Then  hang  it  up  to  dry  in  the  sun,  afterwards 

varnishing  the  other  side.      If  the  knotting  runs  through 


No.  152. — Simple  Stencil  Border,  butterfly  and  sprig. 

the  cut  portions  brush  the  surplus  over  to  distribute  it. 
When  the  first  coat  is  quite  dry  you  can  give  it  a  second,  as 
the  first  will  be  pretty  well  absorbed  by  the  paper.       The 


214 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 


knotting  not  only  makes  the   paper  waterproof,  but  also 
makes  it  tough. 

So  far  for  cutting  a  stencil.     Now  as  to  designing  them. 

In   No.  152  we  have  a 


simple  design,  and  if  we 
examine  it  we  see  that 
the  pattern  is  as  much 
the   result   of   the    por- 
tions left  uncut  as  it  is 
of  the  cut  ones.     These 
uncut   parts   are   called 
"  ties  "  and  are  an   in- 
tegral part  of  all  stencil 
patterns,  for  it  is  obvious  that  if  we  cut  the  alphabet,  some 
letters,  such  as  B,  P  and  O,  could  not  be  produced  did  we 
not  leave  "  ties  "  to  keep  the  portions  surrounded  by  the 


No.  153. — Second  Stencil  Plate, 
for  background  and  pattern  on 
butterfly  used  in  the  two  follow- 
ing designs. 


^1'^ 


No.  154. — Border,  produced  by  embroidering  Nos.  A  and  B. 

loops  of  the  letters  from  falling  out.  In  the  diagram  B,  No. 
1 5 1,  we  see  how  "ties"  must  be  left  if  B  is  to  be  made  into  a 
stencil,  and  it  follows,  therefore,  that  in  designing  stencils 


STENCILLING. 


215 


we  must  so  arrange  our"  pattern  that  these  "  ties  "  really  do 
form  part  of  the  design,  and  in  the  other  designs  here  given 
it  will  be  found  that  this  necessity  of  making  the  "  ties " 
play  their  proper  role  is  attended  to. 


Nos.  155  and  156. — Variations  of  No.  A,  showing  the  effect 
of  stencilling  on  a  white  and  black  ground. 


But  a  stencil  need  not  take  the  simple  form  No.  151.  For 
instance,  we  could  cut  a  sort  of  background  suggested  by  a 
spider's  web  out  of  another  piece  of  paper.  No.  153,  and  by 
stencilling  this  first  we   should  get   the    effect    shown    in 


2I5 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS, 


No.  154.     It  will  be  noticed  that  a  pattern  is  also  cut  to  give 
variety  to  the  butterflies,  but  it  is  obvious  that  this  would 


No.  157.— Feather  Border, 
requiring  plates  158  and 
159  to  produce  it. 


No.  158. 


have  to  be  stencilled  after  the  butterflies  have  been  stencilled, 
so  that  to  effect  this  design,  No.  154,  it  would  necessitate  three 
operations :  first   the   butterflies,   second   the  background, 


STENCILLING, 


2ir 


third  the  sprigs  and  pattern  on  butterflies.  Of  course,  different 
colours  could  be  used  in  each  operation  so  that  we  could 
obtain  considerable  variety  of  colour  by  having  two  stencil 

plates  to  produce  the 
complete  effect. 

In  continuous  pat- 
terns we  need  some- 
thing to  guide  us  as 
to  the  placing  of  the 
stencils  so  that  they 
follow  on  at  equal 
distances.  To  this 
end  cut  just  a  small 
portion  of  the  repeat^ 
say  the  flower  and 
some  of  the  leaves  of 
the  sprig  to  the  left 
of  the  impression. 
By  placing  this  over 
the  impression  just 
stencilled  you  can  fit 
the  plate  exactly 
every  time  it  has  to 
be  shifted.  In  the 
case  of  the  butter- 
flies either  the  body 
or  a  corner  of  the 
wing  would  act  as  a 
guide  for  placing  the 
plate.  This  applies 
equally  where  two  or 


2i8  ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS, 

more  plates  are  required  to  produce  a  pattern.  You  must 
cut  in  each  plate  some  two  or  more  forms  to  act  as  guides 
in  placing  the  stencils;  thus  in  No.  t6o  the  centre  of  the 
flowers  and  the  eye  of  the  fish  act  as  guides  in  placing  the 
stencil-plates. 

Other  variations  of  the  stencil  are  shown  in  Nos.  155  and 
156,  for  not  only  is  the  sprig  omitted,  but  in  one  case  the 
pattern  is  on  a  white  ground  and  in  the  other  on  a  dark  one. 
By  a  little  dodging  several  variations  of  a  pattern  may  be 
obtained. 

The  feather  border,  No.  157,  is  the  result  of  the  com- 
bination of  the  plates  158  and  159. 

With  skill  and  care  quite  elaborate  patterns  can  be  pro- 
duced by  stencilling,  and  many  colours  may  be  introduced. 
Almost  any  form  can  be  cut  as  a  stencil,  the  human  figure 
itself  not  excepted,  though  it  is  a  question  whether  it  is  not 
putting  a  somewhat  severe  strain  upon  stencil-cutting  to  treat 
the  human  form  as  a  stencil-plate.  But  birds,  fish,  and  insects 
are  very  effective  if  appropriately  treated.  In  No.  160  we 
have  a  repeating  border,  in  which  fish  and  insects  are  pro- 
minent features.  Two  plates  are  necessary,  and  these  are 
shown  on  a  smaller  scale  in  Nos.  161  and  162.  Birds  can 
easily  be  adapted  from  Japanese  drawings,  two  of  such 
adaptations  being  given  in  Nos.  163  and  164,  which  are 
good  instances  of  the  translation  of  forms  by  the  method  of 
stencilling.  There  are  many  designs  scattered  through  these 
pages  which  could  be  easily  adapted  for  stencil  cutting. 

In  No.  165  a  stencilled  wall-hanging  is  shown.  The  design 
k  very  simple,  a  quaint  ship  and  lines  suggesting  water. 
Stencilling  is  very  effective  on  any  woven  fabric,  and  either 
liquid  dyes  or  oil-colour  thinned  with  spirits  of  turpentine 


STENCILLING. 


219 


can  be  used.     In  the  case  of  dyes  the  fabric  must  be  light, 
say  canvas,  and  if  the  transparent  oil  colours,  such  as  Prus- 


'm 


-\. 


''A 


4 


J((i»i'  )i 


ir 


!i'S, 

m 


sian    blue,  raw    sienna,  burnt    sienna   and    gamboge,   be 
employed,  made  very  thin  with  turpentine,  they  must  also  be 


220  ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS, 

used  on  a  light  fabric.  If  a  dark  coloured  textile  be  stencilled 
then  the  colours  must  be  opaque  or  nearly  so.  Canvas  thus 
stencilled  makes  excellent  coverings  for  walls  and  for  hang- 
ing in  front  of  clothes-pegs  to  protect  garments  from  dust. 


Using  Stencils. 

Stencilling  can  be  done  either  in  colours  mixed  with  water 

or  oil.  In  the  former 
case  it  is  distemper 
that  is  employed, /.^.y 
whiting  mixed  with 
hot  size  and  tinted 
with  powder  colours, 
such  as  can  be  ob- 
tained at  any  good 
oil  shop  or  decora- 
tor's. Some  colours 
can  be  had  ground 
in  water. 

For  the  decoration 
of  walls  stencilling  is 
admirable,  as  dis- 
temper is  easily  used, 
there  being  a 
"  tooth  "  to  it,  and  the  colour  sinks  in  and  dries  quickly  ; 
consequently  a  sharper  impression  can  be  obtained  in  dis- 
temper than  in  oil.  In  mixing  distemper  colours  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  they  dry  very  much  lighter  than  they 
appear  when  wet,  and  it  is  a  good  plan  to  try  them  on 
paper  and  dry  them  quickly  by  a  fire  to  see  how  they  look 
then.     A  frieze  running  round  the  wall  under  the  cornice 


No. 


163. — Flying  Bird,  adapted  from 
Japanese  dra\^ang. 


STENCILLING. 


221 


is  a  good  way  of  decorating  it,  and  small  patterns  can  be 
stencilled  on  the  wall  in  addition — powdered  over  the  wall, 
as  it  is  termed. 

In  stencilling  in  oil  you  must  mix  up  your  colours,  thinning 
them  to  the  consistency  of  thick  cream.  The  main  point 
to  be  observed  in  using  stencils  is  to  get  the  impressions 
sharp.  The  colour  has  a  slight  tendency  to  work  under- 
neath the  plates  and  this  is  especially  the  case  if  the  colour 
be  used  too  thinly. 
The  brushes  are  short 
in  the  hair  and  made 
expressly  for  the  pur- 
pose. Do  not  fill 
them  too  full,  but  by 
taking  a  little  colour 
and  knocking  the 
brush  on  the  palette 
to  distribute  it  over 
the  brush  you  avoid 
the  danger  of  the 
colour  spreading  and 
so  produ  cing  a 
blurred  impression. 
Be  very  careful  not  to 

get  too  much  water  or  turpentine  in  the  brushes,  or  disaster 
will  follow. 

It  is  possible  to  slightly  vary  the  tints  used  instead  of 
getting  each  impression  mechanically  the  same.  The  best 
way  to  effect  this  is  to  have  the  tinting  colours  in  batches 
on  the  palette  and  a  lot  of  white  also  ;  you  can  then  take 
a  little  of  the  colour  in  the  brush,  and  just  dip  it  also  in  the 


No.  164. — Flying  Bird,  adapted  from 
Japanese  drawing. 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 


white,  then  knock  the  brush  a  few  times  on  the  palette  to 
mix  them  before  rubbing  over  the  stencil-plate.    In  this  way 

you  ^'  break  "  the 
colour  on  the 
stencil  and  the  ef- 
fect is  much  better 
than  if  you  always 
used  the  same 
colour  throughout. 
It  relieves  stencil- 
ling of  the  me- 
chanical to  use 
colour  in  this  way. 
A  little  practice 
will  soon  make 
anyone  expert  in 
varying  the  tints 
ad  iiifinitiim. 

Hold  the  stencil 
with  the  left  hand 
and  with  the  right 
keep  knocking  the 
brush  on  the  plate, 
working  out  the 
colour  in  this  way 
rather  than  by 
rubbing  it  over  the 
stencil.  This  par- 
ticularly applies  to 
a  freshly  charged 
No.  165.— Arras  Wall  Hangings  in  stencil.  brush,     for     when 


STENCILLING.  225 

you  have  taken  up  fresh  colour  you  want  to  avoid  getting 
too  much  out  in  one  spot — rather,  distribute  it  over  a  large 
surface. 

It  will  be  understood  that  more  than  one  stencil-brush  is 
required  if  more  than  one  distinct  colour  is  to  be  used.  It  is 
quite  possible  with  a  little  care  to  work  two  or  more  colours 
on  the  same  plate.  For  instance,  the  design  No.  152  could 
have  the  butterflies  in  one  tint,  the  leaves  in  another,  and  the 
flowers  in  a  third.  The  green  of  the  leaves  is,  of  course,  apt 
to  work  into  the  flowers  unless  you  are  very  careful  to  avoid 
taking  the  green  quite  close  up  to  the  flowers ;  also  you  must 
not  use  brushes  that  are  too  large. 

Every  now  and  then  examine  your  stencil  plate  and  clean 
it  on  the  back  with  a  cloth,  as  with  all  your  care  colour  will 
work  under  the  plate.  When  you  have  finished  with  it 
thoroughly  clean  off  all  colour  with  warm  water  or  turpen- 
tine and  place  the  stencil  between  boards  so  that  it  is  kept 
flat.  Should  any  of  the  ''  ties  "  get  broken  off  repair  them 
by  cutting  narrow  strips  of  varnished  paper  and  sticking 
them  over  the  damaged  place  with  "knotting."  This  will 
dry  hard  quickly  and  make  a  good  join. 

There  are  some  "  ties ''  which  were  left  to  strengthen  the 
stencil  and  which  cannot  be  made  to  form  part  of  the  design. 
Such  "ties"  must  be  filled  in  by  hand  if  it  is  thought  neces- 
sary, but  many  designs  can  be  cut  where  no  such  strengthen- 
ing ties  are  necessary.  Of  course,  a  stencil  can  be  worked 
up  by  hand,  but  very  good  effects  are  obtainable  without 
any  hand  work. 

Stencilling  can  be  done  with  gesso  so  as  to  produce  the 
pattern  in  relief,  and  this  can  afterwards  be  tinted  by  hand. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

POKER  WORK  ON  WOOD  AND  LEATHER. 

N  the  Paris  Salon  this  last  year  was 
shown  a  chest  of  drawers  in  which  the 
ornamentation  was  in  poker  work,  and 
in  addition  colour  was  employed,  and 
most  excellent  and  original  was  the 
effect  obtained  by  the  combination. 
Poker  work  alone  is  a  very  legitimate 
and  effective  way  to  ornament  wood.  Perhaps  oak  lends 
Itself  better  to  this  treatment,  though  the  example  in  the 
Salon  just  alluded  to  was  done  on  pine,  and  where  colour  is 
to  be  used  in  combination  a  light  wood  is  to  be  preferred. 
The  class  of  design  best  suited  to  poker  work  is  where  the 
background  can  be  bnrnt  away,  leaving  the  forms  in  flat- 
relief;  such  a  pattern,  for  instance,  as  the  Vine  No.  7,  page 
16,  could  be  well  wrought  in  poker  work,  or  the  quaint 
renderings  of  fish  and  other  animal  forms  scattered  through 
these  pages  could  be  adapted  for  the  purpose,  particularly 
those  from  the  Japanese  given  in  the  chapter  on  "  Animal 
Forms  in  Decoration,"  for  here  we  have  effects  obtained 
by  a  well-defined  outline,  and  what  detail  there  is  is  of  an 
ornamental  character. 

Poker  work  is,  I  am  aware,   often   used  for  producing 


POKER    WORK, 


225 


^°A^^^^^^^^^^^  °^^  ^^"^^  ^^  ^^^^  Prince's  Restaurant,  designed  by 
Mr.  H.  C.  Brewer.  This  ship  and  the  one  in  next  illustration  are 
taken  from  seventeenth  century  vessels. 

Q 


226  ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 

the  effect  of  a  pen  drawing  such  as  No.  i66,  though 
this  was  not  drawn  for  such  reproduction,  and,  skilfully 
handled,  a  "  poker  "  could  be  made  to  yield  a  very  effective 
result ;  but  then  Mr.  Brewer's  panel  is  a  very  good  example 
of  what  a  decorative  design  should  be,  and  a  good  and 
appropriate  design  is  a  long  way  towards  success.  I  cannot 
think  that  imitating  line  engravings  in  poker  work  is  likely 
to  lead  to  any  marked  success,  though  one  often  sees 
efforts  made  in  this  direction.  My  feeling  is  for  a  much 
more  robust  kind  of  design,  one  in  which  the  outline  does- 
most  of  the  work,  as  in  the  two  admirable  ship  arrangements, 
Nos.  i66  and  167.  Here  we  have  the  shapes  telling  as  light 
spaces  on  a  dark  ground.  Shadows  are  only  hinted  at, 
and  there  is  nothing  I  conceive  that  could  not  adequately 
be  rendered  in  poker  work. 

In  a  friend's  house  I  have  seen  a  table,  some  low  chairs, 
aKid  a  hanging  cabinet  all  decorated  by  his  sister  in  poker 
work,  and  being  done  with  j  udgment  and  taste  the  effect  on 
the  dark  oak  was  quite  admirable.  Until  seeing  these 
examples  I  did  not  realise  what  could  be  done  with  a 
pyrometer.  In  all  cases  the  designs  were  simple,  flat 
renderings  of  plant  form,  the  white  lily  in  one  case,  with  the 
background  burnt  away :  no  great  difficulties  were  attempted, 
no  complicated  pieces  of  foreshortening,  but  what  was  done 
was  quite  craftsmanlike,  and  therefore  satisfying. 

By  a  poker  one  naturally  means  a  properly-contrived 
apparatus  in  which  the  point  is  kept  heated  by  spirit.  They 
are  sometimes  known  as  Pyrometers,  and  can  be  purchased 
from  I2S.  to  i8s.  Heating  an  iron  rod  in  the  fire  is  too- 
primitive  an  arrangement  for  any  satisfactory  results  to  be 
obtained. 

Unless  one  is  very  certain  of  one's  touch,  and  can  trust 


POKER    WORK, 


227 


No.  167.— Sketch  of  Panel  in  Prince's  Restaurant,  designed  bv 
Mr.  H.  C.  Brewer  ^ 


228  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

oneself  to  work  spontaneously,  it  is  advisable  to  make  the 
design  to  be  wrought  on  paper,  and  in  doing  this  bear  in  mind 
that  the  pyrometer  is  not  a  pen,  and  that  to  attempt  to  get 
the  effect  of  cross  hatching  or  minute  work  of  this  nature  is 
outside  the  scope  of  the  craft.    Let  the  forms  be  well  defined 
and  not  too  minute  or  complicated,  and  let  there  be  plenty 
of  spaces  left  almost  plain.     It  is  a  great  mistake  to  cover 
every  part  of  the  wood  with  work,  for  you  do  not  obtain 
relief  where  all  parts  of  the  surface  are  similarly  treated. 
Ill   doing  leaves,  for  instance,  go  for  their   characteristic 
shapes,  but  avoid  putting  much  veining  or  other  markings 
on  them  and  so  lose  breadth.     The  midrib  and  one  or  two 
other  important  traits  may  be  indicated,  but  do  not  be  afraid 
of  leaving  plain  spaces.     In  the  same  way  do  not  be  afraid 
of  lumps  of  black,  that  is,  those  portions  which  are  burnt 
away,  for  they  are  very  effective,  and  help  to  bring  out  the 
shape  of  the  design.     Such  objects  as  the  fine  old  seven- 
teenth-century  vessels  and   heraldry  would   make   capital 
subjects  for  panels,  and  though  Mr.  Brewer  executed  this 
work  in  oils,  I  have  put  two  of  his  designs  in  this  chapter 
because  they  seem  to  be  more  suggestive  of  poker  work 
than   anything   I    could    do    myself.    Materials    for  such 
panels  can  be  found  in  old  engravings  and  also  in  models 
in   museums,   while   heraldry  is  frequently  met  with  and 
is   full   of  decorative  opportunities,  the  scroll-like  foliage 
lending  itself  to  poker  treatment.     Were  anyone  carrying 
out  such  designs  as   i66  or  167,  it  would  be  desirable  to 
leave  out  the  finer  pen-work  indicating  shading,  and  also 
some  of  the  details  of  the  ships.     The  white  line,  too,  left 
around  some  of  the  forms  should  be  omitted,  as  it  tends  to 
confuse  the  design,  which   is   quite  full   enough   without 
adding  to  it. 


POKER    WORK. 


229 


Many  valuable  suggestions  for  elaborate  poker  work 
could,  I  think,  be  obtained  from  a  study  of  some  of 
x\lbert  Durer's  engravings;   such  an  one,  for  instance,  as 


230  ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 

the  heraldic  device  with  the  cock  crowing.     Photographic 
reproductions  of  most  of  his  work  can  now  be  obtained. 

On  Hght  wood  finer  work  can  be  attempted,  and  I  have 
seen  some  poker-work  panels  which  were  very  elaborate 
and  none  the  less  effective.  Cupids  carrying  festoons  of 
flowers  were  the  leading  motifs^  and  colour  was  introduced 
more  as  a  stain  than  as  pigment ;  for  on  white  wood  water- 
colours  can  be  used  as  a  stain.  Colour  can  certainly  be 
introduced  with  considerable  effect  in  combination  with 
poker  work,  and  some  interesting  experiments  might  be 
made  by  rubbing  colour  into  some  of  the  burnt  lines,  and 
then  take  the  surplus  off  with  a  rag,  in  this  way  getting 
accidental  effects  which  are  often  far  before  any  that  are 
designedly  done. 

Such  a  design  as  No.  i68,  though  drawn  originally  as 
a  tail-piece,  is  conceived  in  quite  the  right  way  for  poker 
work,  as  the  outlines  are  few  and  decided,  and  the  black 
background  gives  a  certain  sculpturesque  quality  to  the 
figures  and  details. 

Thick  undyed  leather  can  be  effectively  decorated  with 
poker  work,  and  an  artist  friend  showed  me  a  couple  of 
panels  in  which  he  had  carried  out  two  of  Teniers'  com- 
positions. The  main  lines  of  the  pictures  were  executed 
with  the  pyrometer,  just  as  though  you  made  a  tracing 
of  the  pictures  in  outline,  and  where  a  mass  of  shadow 
came  it  was  burnt  in,  and  then  the  colour  of  the  original 
pictures  was  suggested  by  rubbing  on  oil  colour  and 
wiping  off  the  surplus.  The  warm  yellow-brown  of  the 
leather  gave  a  rich  tone  to  the  colour,  and  produced  a 
most  harmonious  result.  No  attempt  was  made  to  obtain 
a  copy  of  the  pictures,  but  only  a  translation  or  para- 
phrase as  it  were.     I  have  seen  other  examples  of  leather 


23*  ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS, 

decorated  in  this  way  with  more  ornamental  patterns,  and 
those  readers  who  have  only  tried  poker  work  on  wood 
will  be  glad  of  the  suggestion  to  essay  effects  on  leather, 
as  the  surface  and  colour  of  undyed  cowhide  lends  itself 
to  a  decorative  scheme.  In  the  Paris  Exhibition  were  to  be 
seen  some  most  admirable  effects  produced  by  poker  work 
on  leather ;  in  fact,  it  appeared  to  be  a  favourite  method  of 
decorating  leather.  In  some  cases  the  design  was  out- 
lined by  the  poker,  and  then  the  design  repoussed  or 
punched  in  from  the  front.  The  leather  employed  was 
invariably  of  the  nature  of  cow-hide,  and  was  light  brown 
in  colour.  Stains  were  used  to  give  colour  to  the  patterns 
in  some  cases  with  considerable  effect. 

Various  combinations  suggest  themselves,  such  as  beaten 
or  repousse  leather  and  poker  work,  but  these  I  must 
leave  to  the  reader  to  carry  out  for  himself.  Design 
No.  169,  for  instance,  if  wrought  on  a  larger  scale,  would 
lend  itself  to  the  dual  treatment,  the  figures  being  beaten 
up  slightly,  and  the  foliage  and  accessories  burnt  on.  A 
little  colour  would  greatly  help  the  design. 

Purely  geometrical  patterns  and  arabesques  could  be 
effectively  reproduced  with  a  p3n-ometer,  and  then  colour 
and  gilding  could  be  added. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


DECORATIVE     PAINTING     FOR     ROOMS     AND 
FURNITURE. 

S  a  concluding  chapter  to  this  work  it 
may  not  be  considered  quite  outside 
our  subject  to  devote  it  to  the  treat- 
ment of  flat  surfaces  by  painted  decora- 
tion, for  elsewhere  we  have  considered 
decoration  in  relief  and  by  stencilling. 
By  decorative  •  painting  I  take  it  one  means  painting  which 
does  not  exist  apart  from  the  surface  decorated.  A  picture 
is  the  individual  expression  of  an  idea,  and  exists  for  itself 
alone,  and  therefore  without  reference  to  its  surroundings ; 
but  a  piece  of  painted  decoration  is  conditioned  by  its 
environment  and  the  purpose  to  which  it  is  put.  Thus  an 
artist  might  be  called  upon  to  paint  the  panels  of  a  cabinet, 
and  could  bring  as  much  skill  and  knowledge  to  bear  upon 
the  work  as  in  his  pictures,  and  yet  it  will  not  consist  of 
pictures  made  to  fit  the  spaces  to  be  painted,  but  of  work 
designed  and  carried  out  to  keep  its  place  in  the  general 
scheme.  No  hard-and-fast  line  can  be  drawn  between  the 
various  forms  of  painted  art,  and  a  painting  is  not  neces- 
sarily decorative  because  it  has  a  line  put  round  all  the 
forms,  but  because  due  attention  is  paid  to  fitness,  and  due 
restraint  exhibited  in  carrying  out  the  design,  so  that  too 
much  attention  is  not  paid  to  the  decoration  which  would 


234  ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS, 

destroy  the  balance  and  upset  the  harmony  of  the  whole 
■scheme.  The  skill  necessary  to  paint  a  passable  cabinet 
picture  such  as  would  find  a  place  in  a  good  exhibition,  is 
not  often  possessed  by  amateurs,  whereas,  by  working  in  a 
humbler  and  simpler  style,  such  as  painting  the  panels  of  a 
cabinet,  many  could  succeed  in  such  decorative  work,  for 
here  the  delicacy  of  perception,  subtle  definition  and  masterly 
handling  required  in  pictorial  art  give  place  to  a  much  less 
exacting  treatment.  Take,  for  instance,  Mr.  Louis  Davis's 
painted  retable,  No.  170.  The  charm  of  colour  of  the 
original  is  barely  indicated  in  the  reproduction,  though  the 
general  arrangement  and  colour  scheme  is  suggested.  The 
effect  aimed  at  is  broader,  flatter  and  severer  than  would  be 
the  case  were  the  artist  painting  a  cabinet  picture.  Then 
the  background  is  arbitrarily  treated,  and  the  thorns  painted 
upon  it  are  quite  ornamental.  A  certain  amount  of  light 
and  shade  is  employed  to  give  relief,  but  not  the  subtle  play 
of  halftone,  with  all  its  delicate  gradations,  that  is  thought 
necessary  in  a  picture.  A  certain  sculpturesque  quality, 
too,  is  seen,  which  makes  the  work  effective  when  viewed  at 
a  distance.  There  are  plenty  of  difficulties  to  be  overcome 
here,  but  not  so  many  or  such  subtle  ones  as  there  would  be 
were  the  artist  realizing  a  figure  seen  under  particular  condi- 
tions of  light,  where  one  plane  melts  into  another  and  where 
the  sense  of  atmosphere  has  to  be  suggested.  Or  take  the 
two  panels,  No.  171,  portion  of  the  decoration  of  a 
pianoforte  front.  Here  the  artist  has  designed  an  arrange- 
ment of  lines  and  spaces  and  given  the  panels  a  strongly 
asserted  character  which  is  pleasing  or  the  reverse  as  indi- 
vidual taste  decides.  There  is  no  attempt  here  to  reaUse 
the  effect  of  a  figure  singing  in  a  room  with  all  the 
delicate  play  of  light  and  shade  around  it,  but  a  figure 


DECORATIVE  PAINTING. 


235 


No.  170.— Painting  on  Retable.     All  Hallows  Church,  Southwark. 
By  Louis  Davis. 

is  arranged  to^fit  a  certain  space,  and  instead  of  subtle  light 
and  shade  the  subject  is  viewed  in  an  arbitrary  way,  so  that 


236  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS, 

such  difficulties  are  avoided,  and  by  treating  the  work  in  a 
flat  manner  and  drawing  in  all  the  forms  definitely  with  an 
outline  the  difficulties  of  handling  are  considerably  lessened 
and  consequently  are  much  more  easily  grappled  with.  In 
carrying  out  such  panels  the  flesh  might  be  kept  a  flat  tint, 
and  in  the  face  only  so  much  shadow  put  under  the  chin  as 
to  obtain  relief.  A  tint  might  be  mixed  up  of,  say,  white, 
vermilion  and  yellow  ochre,  to  give  a  warm,  reddish  tone  ot 
colour,  and  this  could  be  put  on  flatly  and  the  shadow 
stippled  on  with  a  badger ;  indeed,  it  would  give  a  nice 
texture  to  stipple  the  whole  when  you  have  got  the  colour 
on  the  panel.  The  shadow  could  be  made  by  adding  a 
little  light  red  and  black  to  the  flesh  tint.  When  this  is 
dry  the  features  could  be  transferred  with  carbon  paper,  and 
then  put  in  with  light  red,  using  a  "rigger"  to  do  this. 
Here,  you  see,  we  adopt  methods  to  lessen  difficulties,  for 
to  attempt  to  get  the  appearance  of  flesh  demands  much 
more  skill  and  knowledge  than  is  necessary  to  paint  a 
decorative  panel :  we  attempt  to  succeed  in  a  humbler  eff"ort 
rather  than  fail  in  a  difficult  one.  The  hair  could  be  kept  a 
golden  brown,  and  the  drapery  put  in  flatly.  The  shadows 
on  the  sleeves,  to  render  the  folds,  should  be  put  in  a  darker 
tint  of  the  same  colour,  say  apple  green.  The  pattern  on  the 
dress  would  have  to  be  put  on  when  the  colour  is  dry,  and 
a  small  stencil  could  be  cut  to  do  it.  In  this  way  the  whole 
design  is  mapped  out,  and  the  colouring  is  not  unlike 
putting  colours  on  a  map.  In  fact,  we  deliberately  map 
out  our  work  and  plan  it  as  a  shape  instead  of  attempting  to 
realise  it  pictorially,  and  by  thus  making  a  pattern  of  our 
subject  we  give  it  a  certain  quaint  character  which  keeps  it 
in  the  position  it  occupies,  such  as  a  pianoforte  front. 
It  is  always  a  good  plan  to  make  a  careful  drawing  of  the 


DECORATIVE  PAINTING. 


23/ 


design  to  be  carried  out  before  commencing  work,  and  then 
make  a  tracing  of  it,  so  that  you  can  transfer  it  as  the  work 
progresses.  There  should  be  no  bungling  or  hesitancy 
when  the  actual  painting  is  begun,  for  the  more  direct  you 
work  the  better. 


No.  171 . — The  two  end  panels  of  the  decoi  aied  part  of  a  pianoforte, 
by  H.  G.  Theaker,  Royal  College  of  Art. 

If  you  wish  to  enlarge  a  design,  the  easiest  way  to  do  this 
is  by  "squaring."  You  divide  the  drawing  up  into,  say, 
half-inch  squares,  and  then  on  your  paper  you  mark  squares 
the  size  necessary  to  bring  your  pattern  to  the  required 
dimensions.  Thus,  if  you  want  to  enlarge  it  to  double  the 
size,  then  your  paper  must  be  divided  up  into  inch  squares. 
To  reduce  a  drawing  work  in  the  reverse  way.  It  is  a  com- 
paratively easy  task  to  fill  in  the  squares  each  with  its 
corresponding  part  of  the  design,  and  in  this  way  you  insure 
getting  a  fac  simile  of  the  original  so  far  as  proportion  is 
concerned. 


238 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 


In  symmetrical  patterns  you  have  only  to  fold  a  piece  of 
paper  in  two  and  draw  one  half  of  the  design  in  pencil ; 
then  by  rubbing  the  plain  half  of  the  paper  on  to  the  drawn 
half  you  obtain  a  faint  impression  of  it,  and  so  get  both 
sides  alike. 

For  transferring  a  pattern  to  be  repeated  many  times 
**  pouncing "  is  the  easiest  method  to  adopt.     You  prick 


i»  ^  tl.  ft 


4 


rxft^^ 


No.  172. — Decorative  Panel,  by  Mr.  H.  C.  Brewer. 


over  the  design  with  a  needle  upon  a  piece  of  flannel,  and 
it  is  better  to  do  this  on  the  reverse  side ;  so  make  your 
design  on  tracing  paper.  The  needle  holes  should  be  fairly 
close  together,  like  the  perforation  on  postage  stamps. 
Some  crushed  charcoal  or  powdered  chalk  put  up  in  fine 
muslin  and  rubbed  over  the  pricked  pattern  or  pounce  will 
leave  an  impression  behind  it  which  can  be  outlined  with  a 


DECORATIVE  PAINTING. 


239 


fine  brush  to  fix  it,  unless  you  can  work  it  straight  away 
in  colour,  for,  of  course,  the  powder  easily  dusts  off.  This 
method  of  **  pouncing"  is  the  one  always  employed   by 


No.  173. — i'uiLiait  oi  Hans  Thoma,  in  decorated  frame. 


decorators  where  the  repetition  of  a  pattern  is  necessary. 
These  "  tips  "  may  seem  very  obvious  and  trite  to  many 
readers,  but  I  remember  the  time  when  I  would  have  given 


240  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

a  good  deal  to  have  known  of  them.  It  is  for  the  want  of 
this  kind  of  knowledge  that  amateurs  bungle  so  sadly. 

The  introduction  of  gold  and  platinum  in  a  decorative 
scheme  is  often  very  helpful,  and  with  a  little  practice 
amateurs  can  do  this  well  enough  to  pass  muster.  Ordinary 
gilding  is  done  by  covering  the  surface  to  be  gilded  with 
gold  size,  which  can  be  had  at  a  decorator's.  This  is 
usually  put  on  the  day  before  the  gold  is  applied,  as  the 
size  must  be  nearly  dry  before  it  is  ready  for  the  gold-leaf. 
This  should  be  taken  up  by  a  *'  tip,"  and  gilders  turn  out 
the  sheets  of  gold-leaf  on  to  a  leather  pad,  which  has  card- 
board sides  to  keep  the  gold-leaf  from  blowing  away  Some 
amount  of  gold  will  doubtless  be  wasted  at  first,  until  you 
get  used  to  handling  it.  If  the  sheets  of  gold-leaf  require 
cutting  a  special  knife  is  used  for  the  purpose,  and  the  gold 
is  taken  up  with  the  *'  tip,"  which  is  just  passed  over  the 
hair;  and  gilders  keep  their  hair  well  greased,  so  that  the 
*'  tip  "  just  takes  u[)  enough  grease  to  make  the  gold-leaf 
adhere  by  its  edges  to  the  "  tip."  There  is  a  "  transfer  " 
gold  sold  which  slightly  adheres  to  the  paper  it  is  put 
between,  and  you  take  up  a  sheet  of  the  paper  upon  which 
is  the  gold-leaf,  and  press  this  on  to  the  gold  size,  the  gold 
adhering  when  you  peel  away  the  paper.  This  transfer  gold 
is  easier  to  manipulate  than  the  ordinary  leaf,  which  has  to 
be  applied,  as  I  have  said,  with  a  "  tip." 

Decoration  looks  well  on  a  gilded  ground,  and  some 
beautiful  effects  are  obtainable  by  using  transparent  oil 
colour  mixed  with  varnish  on  the  gold,  for  the  metal 
showing  through  the  colour  produces  a  wonderfully  rich 
effect.  William  Morris,  in  some  of  the  decorations  he 
designed  for  St.  James's  Palace,  used  transparent  colours  on 
a  gold  ground  with  fine  effect.     The  grape  was  the  motif 


DECORATIVE  PAINTING. 


241 


and  the  leaves  and  fruit  were  outlined  in  a  solid  colour,  like 
Indian  red,  and  then,  when  dry,  the  greens  and  purples 
were  put  on  thinly  with  varnish.  Copal  is  the  best  to  use, 
as  it  dries  very  hard. 

A  word  may  here  be  said  as  to  the  mixing  of  oil  colours 


No.  174. — St.  Cecilia.     By  Hans  Thoma,  in  decorated  frame. 


for  decorative  purposes.  Where  much  colour  is  required  it 
is  cheaper  to  buy  pound  tubes  of  decorators'  colours.  If 
these   are   thinned   with   a    little   turpentine   and   a   small 


242  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS, 

quantity  of  copal  they  will  dry  hard  and  fairly  quickly. 
Linseed  and  other  oil  should  as  a  general  rule  be  avoided, 
as  the  colours  are  then  so  much  longer  in  dr}ing.  If 
colours  are  thinned  with  a  little  turpentine  only  they  dry 
almost  dead,  but  the  work  can  be  varnished  afterwards. 

There  has  been  a  revival  in  painted  furniture,  and  as  it  is 
such  a  capital  way  of  using  one's  labour,  amateurs  might 
profitably  turn  their  attention  in  this  direction. 

The  furniture,  if  it  be  made  expressly  for  decorating, 
should  only  be  partially  polished,  and  it  should  be  under- 
stood by  the  maker  that  it  is  intended  to  be  painted,  as  due 
allowance  will  then  be  made.  The  decoration  should  be 
done  in  oil  colours,  and  you  cannot  do  better  than  use  a 
little  turpentine  and  varnish  as  a  vehicle,  but  don't  overdo 
the  varnish  as  it  is  an  advantage  that  the  colour  dries  dead, 
as  the  brilliancy  is  restored  by  the  polishing.  Use  the 
colours  evenly,  and  avoid  lumping  them  on  in  parts,  as 
when  French-polished  roughnesses  in  the  colour  look  bad. 
The  polishing  must  be  done  by  a  professional,  for  a  tricky 
business  is  French-polishing,  and  few  amateurs  succeed  at 
it.  This  polishing  over  the  decoration  gives  it  a  fine 
qualit}'. 

Painted  furniture  can  be  most  effectively  decorated.  On 
a  white  ground  the  decoration  can  be  in  delicate  tones,  and 
transparent  colours  used.  I  remember  seeing  a  grand-piano 
case  the  decoration  of  which  was  designed  by  William 
Morris.  It  consisted  of  a  conventionalised  flowering  tree 
running  over  and  covering  the  whole  surface.  The  colours, 
quiet  greens  with  pinkish  flowers,  were  put  on  thinly  and 
semi-transparently,  the  forms  having  been  previously  out- 
lined in  burnt  sienna.  The  work  was  then  varnished  and 
polished,  and  looked  very  choice.     Light  decoration  on  a 


DECORATIVE  PAINTING. 


243 


dark  ground 
comes  well.  A 
corner  cupboard 
I  saw  in  a  studio 
was  painted  a  dull 
sage  green,  quite 
dark,  and  some 
simple  patterns 
in  light  yellows 
and  g  olden 
browns  were 
painted  on  the 
panels,  and  .the 
whole  was  var- 
nished, and  look- 
ed particularly 
rich  and  harmon- 
ious. In  varnish- 
ing painted  work 
you  require  a 
broad  brush,  so 
that  you  can 
quickly  cover  the 
surface.  Use  the 
varnish  freely,  but 
well  brush  it  on 
so  that  no  holes 
are  left  unvarnish- 
ed. Do  not  touch 
the  varnish  when 
it  has  begun  to 
set,  and  keep  it 


244 


ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS, 


away  from  dust  while  drying.     For  large  works  buy  your 
varnish  by  the  pint :  a  good  hard  drying  varnish,  white  for 
light  work,  and  darker  for  dark  work,  should  be  used. 
Picture  and  mirror  frames,  if  properly  designed,  give  the 


No.- 


:  76. — Detail  of  Roof  in  north  aisle,  Catholic  Apostolic  Church, 
Edinburgh.     Mrs.  Traquair. 


decorator  an  opportunity  of  displaying  his  talent.  The  two 
very  original  decorated  frames  by  Hans  Thoma,  Nos.  173 
and  174,  are  worth  studying,  for  they  are  very  daring  in 
treatment.    The  festoons  of  flowers  in  No.  173  are  modelled 


DECORATIVE  PAINTING. 


245 


upon  florid  Renaissance  work,  and  it  is  a  class  of  design 
very  suitable  for  using  on  polished  furniture.     The  flowers 


\ 


Vi 


'm^m-. 


5Tef^ 


No.  177. — Painted  Pilasters  in  the  Prince's  Restaurant.     Designed 
by  Mr.  H.  C.  Brewer. 


246  ART  CRAFTS  FOR   AMATEURS. 

themselves  are  painted  fairly  naturally,  the  various  groups 
being  held  together  by  ribbons.  In  the  other  frame,  No.  174, 
the  artist  has  gone  for  a  severer  treatment,  and  by  the 
appearance  of  the  reproduction  it  looks  as  though  gesso  had 
been  used  to  procure  relief. 

In  these  two  examples  we  can  see  the  difference  between 
painting  a  picture  of  flowers  and  using  flowers  to  decorate  a 
surface.  Were  we  to  go  in  a  garden  or  place  a  group  of 
flowers  in  a  vase  in  a  room  and  attempt  to  realize  them  and 
their  surroundings  we  should  have  to  suggest  the  atmosphere, 
the  melting  of  one  plane  into  another,  the  subtle  play  of 
light  and  shade,  and  endless  other  nice  distinctions; 
whereas,  if  we  paint  the  same  flowers  on  a  polished  or  plain 
wood  panel  or  gilt  ground,  we  at  once  approach  our  work 
from  a  different  point  of  view,  and  by  only  having  form  and 
local  colour,  that  is  the  colour  of  the  objects  themselves 
and  not  as  they  change  with  the  varying  light,  to  think  of 
what  we  have  to  do  is  much  more  graspable  and,  therefore, 
easier  of  accomplishment. 

We  see  how  a  decorator  approaches  the  subject  in  the 
long  panel.  No.  1 75,  by  Mr.  H.  C.  Brewer,  which  is  a  portion 
of  the  decorative  scheme  in  the  Prince's  Restaurant.  The 
water,  as  well  as  the  ships,  is  ornamentalised,  line  and  shape 
being  thought  of  before  atmospheric  effect.  The  vessels 
themselves  are  fairly  accurate  renderings  of  seventeenth- 
century  ships,  a  period  when  some  of  the  most  beautiful 
vessels,  having  regard  to  shape,  were  built. 

We  can  get  much  further  removed  from  naturalism  than 
the  examples  hitherto  considered  in  this  chapter  indicate  ; 
much  nearer  the  purely  ornamental,  as  in  the  scheme  for  a 
roof.  No.  176.  Painting  simple  ornamental  patterns  is  very 
good  practice  in  learning  to  manipulate  colour,  and  the  tyro 


DECORATIVE  PAINTING. 


24/ 


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r^w  ralttrft  qcitdl  3ta  lottrta  era  , 
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No.  178. — An  Illuminated   Page  containing  a  sonnet   by  Dante. 
By  Mrs.  Traquair, 


248  ART  CRAFTS  FOR  AMATEURS. 

would  do  well  to  try  his  hand  at  such  work.  The  Renais^ 
sance  pilasters,  No.  177,  are  more  difficult  than  the  flatter 
patterns  in  No.  176,  as  the  sense  of  roundness  has  to  be 
given  to  this  class  of  ornament,  designed  by  Mr.  Brewer. 

Illuminating  books  is  a  very  beautiful  form  of  painted 
decoration,  and  one  that  may  well  secure  the  attention  of 
the  amateur.  Much  in  the  way  of  colour  and  design  can  be 
learnt  from  the  old  missals  in  the  British  Museum,  for 
illuminating  was  the  appropriate  art  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
what  they  didn't  know  touching  this  subject  isn't  worth 
knowing.  Still  there  is  no  reason  why  there  should  be  any 
slavish  copying  of  old  work.  Mrs.  Traquair,  in  the  example 
of  one  of  her  illuminated  pages.  No.  178,  has  put  her  ego  into 
it,  and  at  the  same  time  there  is  quite  the  spirit  of  the  best 
old  work  as  well.  Brilliant  colour  should,  I  think,  be  the 
note  in  illumination,  and  there  are  delightful  opportunities 
for  design  and  fancy  in  initial  letters  and  borders. 
Inventing  lettering  is  a  difficult  undertaking,  and  it  would 
be  worth  the  expenditure  to  those  taking  up  illuminating  to 
buy  a  book  of  "  Alphabets."  An  illuminated  page  is  spoilt 
if  the  lettering  itself  is  not  well  designed  and  executed,  and 
in  proportion  to  the  rest  of  the  decoration.  Vellum  is  a 
much  more  beautiful  material  to  work  on  than  paper. 


PKINTED    BY    H.    VIRTUE    AND    COMPANY,    LIMITED,    CITY   ROAD,    LONDON. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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LD  21-100m-9,'48XB399sl6)476 


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